Son of Jaune
by Rose131313
Summary: Jaune and Pyrrha have been travelling the world fighting Grimm and protecting humanity, except they haven't been alone. Their 16 year old son Sam Arc has been fighting along side them. When they decide it is in his best interest to attend Beacon, he is destined to unlock his true potential with the help of his new friends, descendants of JNPR and RWBY. Will they survive?
1. Chapter 1

Ch. 1

The air ship ride was horrible. Sam Arc did not like flying. Even after spending 17 years of his life travelling the world with his parents, he still could not get over his motion sickness. When he was finally able to see the main tower of Beacon Academy, Sam breathed a sigh of relief. He blew his long red hair out of his bright blue eyes, trying to get a better view of the school. 'Almost there.'

Sam Arc did not have a very conventional upbringing. His parents Jaune and Pyrrha Arc were both accomplished huntsmen who didn't spend a lot of time at home. Instead, they fought Grimm all over Remnant. When Sam was born, neither of his parents wanted to leave him behind at home with a nanny, but they also knew that they couldn't abandon humanity's struggle. So Sam was brought up on the road, celebrating birthdays in highly Grimm infested areas. Luckily, his parents were some of the best huntsmen to ever live, and they kept him safe for the most part.

Since he basically grew up around fighting and combat, Sam learned quickly. His parents taught him how to swing a sword, hold a shield, throw a spear, shoot a gun, land a nasty punch, and all sorts of fun ways to kill Grimm. He didn't have a problem with that. Sam enjoyed fighting. He almost felt naked without his weapons, which were strung across his back. He had two single edged recurving swords with gold and white designs. When linked pommel to pommel, a thin wire ran from one tip to the other, forming a bow, which fired dust infused arrows from the quiver also on Sam's back. Jaune had offered Crocea Mors to him, as a family heirloom, but Sam didn't feel comfortable taking his father's weapon, so he forged his own. In the way of armor, Sam preferred simplicity. He wore black boots, jeans, and a white long sleeved shirt. White shin and forearm guards protected his, well, shins and forearms. What really made him stand out, however, was a long black hooded cloak he had picked up on one of his parents missions. The hood came in very handy during his travels. Whenever he was with his parents and they were working with other huntsmen, he wore it to disguise his age. Many people would call Jaune and Pyrrha insane for letting Sam fight with them, but they knew he could handle himself. Sam had his mother's natural talent and his father's persistence and quick learning.

When the airship finally touched down, Sam was one of the last off. Many of the new students were chatting and laughing with each other, but Sam did not. One side effect of his upbringing was the ability to fight. Another was a lack of social skills, with teenagers at least. He spent a lot of time with older huntsman, so he was fine interacting with adults, but since he moves so much, Sam had never had any friends his age. For this very reason his parents decided to send him to Beacon. They wanted him to make life-long friendships the way they had. At first Sam wasn't very excited. He insisted that he was fine travelling with his parents, hanging out in military bases and rowdy inns. His parents eventually coaxed him into going, and as the first day arrived, Sam found himself growing more and more excited. Maybe it would be nice having friends.

"Hello there Mister Arc," a calm voice to Sam's right said as he took his first step on Beacon soil. Turning towards the source, Sam saw a tall, white haired man with wire glasses holding a coffee cup in one hand and a can in the other. The man looked young, physically, but the way he held himself gave Sam the indication that the stranger had the life experience and wisdom of someone very old.

"Um, hi." 'Way to go Sam. Probably one of your future teachers and that's all you can say?'

"I am professor Ozpin, headmaster at Beacon. Welcome to my school." The man, Ozpin, took a sip of his coffee. "How are your parents?" 'Does this guy know my parents?' Sam thought to himself.

"They're fine, I think. I left them when they were in the middle of a job in Vacuo. We were protecting a village there while some walls were being constructed," Sam answered.

"We?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. When your parents contacted me about sending you here, I was curious. You had never attended combat school. Then they told me about your upbringing and I couldn't resist doing a little research. Your parents had taken on some of the most difficult, and dangerous, jobs out there. Tell me, how old were you when you started helping them?" Sam thought for a minute.

"Mmmm, I think when I was 10. I left the inn one day and followed my parents into the jungle. They didn't notice I was trailing them until we were a whole two day's hike in."

"What happened then?" Ozpin asked, taking another sip of his coffee. Sam looked down at his feet.

"Well, that's when the Grimm came. It was dark, and they had just made camp. I was watching them, and red eyes appeared behind them. I yelled out, and they saw me, then they saw the Grimm. We were in that jungle for two months, trying to stay alive. I was forced to adapt, to learn. When we finally made it out, I insisted that they teach me. After those couple of months, I didn't really think there was anything I couldn't handle. From then on, I worked with them, watching them and others like them." Sam looked back up at Ozpin, who had a smile on his face.

"I think you'll do just fine here, Mister Arc. I'll see you at orientation." Ozpin swaggered off, leaving Sam alone on the air strip. All the other students had gone inside.

"Oh great, now where do I go?!" Sam was lost. "Good job me."


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

Sam never made it to the orientation ceremony. By the time he found his way to the room where everyone was sleeping for the night, it was close to midnight. There had been nobody on campus to point him in the right direction. 'Hopefully I didn't miss any important information.' As was traditional, Beacons team building system was a secret, and Sam's parents had refused to enlighten him. Luckily for Sam, nobody else knew much about it either.

Finding a quiet corner of the room, Sam laid out his sleeping mat and quickly drifted off into sleep. He didn't stay that way for long though. Sam woke up in a cold sweat, panting from the nightmare he had just had. Standing up, Sam walked outside. Nightmares were common for him. He never got more than a few hours of sleep because of them. Mostly the nightmares were from some of the things he had seen while on jobs, all the death and destruction. Sam leaned against the balcony, looking out over the city of Vale. The cool air felt good on his bare skin. He slept in a pair of sweatpants, and nothing else. His mom had shown Sam pictures of his dad in his pajamas when they were younger, and from then on Sam swore to never make the same mistake. A door creaking behind started him. A girl walked out.

The first thing he noticed were the wings. The girl, obviously a faunus, had big black wings sprouting from between her shoulder blades. Dragging his eyes away from the feathery appendages, Sam took in the rest of her. She had raven hair and dark grey eyes. She was wearing a light red nightgown that went just above her knee.

"Yo!" she said, waving at Sam. "What's up? Better question, what are you doing up?" she asked. For someone awake at three in the morning, she didn't seem all that tired.

"Couldn't sleep," Sam answered. "What about you?"

"You woke me up with your sleep talking. Also you were rolling around a lot in your sleep. I know about nightmares. They suck. I'm Paige. Paige Wukong."

"Sam Arc. Nice to meet you." Sam reached out a hand to shake, but Paige's eyes went wide.

"You're Sam Arc?! Do you know Jaune and Pyrrha Arc?" She looked at him expectantly. Sam took a step back. 'Is this what all teenagers are like?'

"Um, yeah. They're my parents. How do you know them?"

"My parents talk about them all the time! They went to school together, here at Beacon. My mom is Blake, and my Dad is Sun. They're both faunus, like me!" To emphasize the point, she spread her wings, which were a good twelve feet long. "My mom was a cat and my dad a monkey. I'm some kind of bird. Don't ask me how it works. Faunus inheritance is weird." Sam only nodded his head. The names Blake and Sun seemed familiar. Maybe his parents had mentioned them at some point.

"Well, I'm going to try to go back to sleep. Are you coming inside?"

"Naw. I'm going for a quick flap, then I'll come in," she said.

"Flap?" Sam asked. He'd never heard of that before. Was it teenage slang for going on a run?

"Yeah, a flap. Well, goodnight Sam. See you tomorrow." Paige ran forward, past Sam, and jumped over the railing of the balcony. Startled, Sam looked over the edge, but quickly pulled his head back when a black shape flew past him. It was Paige, her black wings carrying her off into the night. When the girl disappeared behind one of the towers of the school, Sam turned around and walked back inside. Finding his sleeping mat, he laid there until morning, staring at the ceiling. At some point, the door creaked open and Paige walked in, but neither of them acknowledged the other.

Sam followed the other students to the locker room where he started putting on his equipment. His locker was on the edge of the row, so there was only one person to his right, a girl with long orange hair with a pink streak in it. She was currently buckling a belt around her strange looking robes which were green and pink. Then from her locker she pulled a long whip which glowed with dust. Seeing an opportunity to make a new friend, Sam cleared his throat.

"Hi. Nice to meet you. I'm Sam Arc." The girl went ridged. Slowly, she closed her locked and faced him. She had to look up to see him, squinting her almond colored eyes.

"Are you the son of Jaune and Pyrrha?" she asked, looking him up and down.

"Um, yes?" Sam said, trying to hide from the scrutinization of the girl.

"My parents knew yours. They were teammates." The girl turned back to her locker, making sure it was closed.

"What?!" Sam cried out. How could he not have known this? 'Well, I guess my parents and I never really had time to talk about the past,' Sam thought. "Do your parents talk about mine a lot?" The girl nodded, not looking at him. "Did they like my parents?" Again, the girl nodded. "You don't talk much, do you?" Another nod. "Can you at least tell me your name?" The girl sighed.

"Lie Harmony. If you're ready, we should leave. The headmaster said to go to the cliff." With that, Harmony walked off. Not wanting to get lost again, he followed her. 'I'm really going to have to talk to my parents about all their friends and kids they never cared to mention.'


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

Sam stood on his platform, listening to Professor Ozpin talking, but he wasn't really paying attention. He was too busy mentally writing a strongly worded letter to his parents about how they never talked about their lives before he was born. All he knew about his parents, now that he thought about it, was that they were huntsmen. From what he could glean from the two girls he had talked to, apparently they had had many friends during their time at Beacon.

"The first person you make eye contact with will be you're partner for the next four years." This caught Sam's attention. 'Wow. That's commitment. No wonder my parents are married.' "Good luck, and try to stay alive," Ozpin said, taking a sip of coffee. That was when the first student was launched into the forest below. Then another. Finally, it was Paige's turn to be launched. Her platform pushed her forward, but her wings caught her. She turned around and gave Ozpin a look that said 'Really? Is this necessary?' before calmly gliding downwards. Ozpin chuckled and drank his coffee. The numbers were thinning, and Sam realized that he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing.

"Wait, Professor, what is the mission?"

"Didn't you hear my briefing? I thought I spoke fairly loud," Ozpin said.

"I was kinda distracted." Sam looked down at his feet shamefully.

"Hm. Good luck then." Sam was suddenly weightless, his platform and the cliff far behind him. As he fell, he drew his swords from his back and prepared his landing strategy. First, he would hack his way through any branches that were in his way. The resistance should slow him down enough to safely land on a branch and gain a vantage point to survey the entire forest, just as his mom had taught him. Just as he was about to break through into the trees, something collided with him, sending him flying perpendicular to his previous line of trajectory. Sam and the unidentified object violently slammed into a trunk of a tree and with the grace of and Ursa, fell to the ground in a heap. Untangling himself, Sam stood up and rubbed his neck, which felt like it had been stretched out another inch.

"You dolt! You got in my way!" the heap cried out indignantly. Brushing twigs out of her hair, a girl stood up and glared at Sam. "Are you going to say something or just stand there like an idiot?" Sam would have said something but his breath had been taken from him. In front of him was the embodiment of pure beauty. The girl wore a white skirt and blouse, with a red hooded cloak just like his. At her waist was a rapier that appeared to also be a gun, a small barrel sticking out next to the blade. She had black hair dyed white at the tips. Her silver eyes looked up at him (significantly) filled with what looked like complete annoyance.

Finally finding his voice, Sam tried talking.

"Um, uh. I- well… wait what?"

"You got in my way, and now we have no idea where we are!" the girl said.

"You're beautiful," was all Sam could think to say. The girl rolled her eyes.

"How hard did you hit your head? Never mind. What's your name?"

"Sam Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." 'Woah Sam. Where did that come from? The girl face palmed.

"This cannot be happening. Why? Why me? Out of every teenager in Remnant, why did I find you?" Sam had no idea what she was talking about. "Based off that clueless expression you have, it looks like I'll have to explain it to you. Your father was just as big of an idiot as you are apparently." 'Oh no. Someone else who knows my parents?' "Jaune Arc harassed my mother Weiss Schnee for the better part of two years. And now I get his son as my partner! Is there some god up there who hates me?"

"Schnee? I know that name! Your mom is the dust lady!"

"Dust lady? Seriously? One of my mom's the CEO of the largest Dust Company in history. My other mom, Ruby, is one of the most accomplished huntresses ever to live, rivalled only by your parents."

"You have two moms?"

"Are you judging?" The girl drew her rapier and pointed it at Sam. He raised his hands in surrender and shook his head. Travelling all over the world, Sam had met all types and didn't really care. "Good. Unfortunately, it looks like we're partners. I'm Robin Schnee." Robin gave a quick curtsey. Unsure of what to do, Sam bowed like he had seen in movies. How else does one greet an heiress?

"Um, where exactly are we going? I wasn't paying attention during Ozpin's speech?" Robin face palmed again.

"Towards the ruins of some old temple. There we find some sort of relic and return it. It's that way." Without waiting for Sam to reply, Robin began walking, leaving Sam to run and catch up.

It didn't take long for Sam and Robin to come across creatures of Grimm. At one point, Robin had tumbled down a small ridge, Sam trailing closely. After brushing herself off, Robin had looked up and her eyes had gone as wide as saucers. The cliff to their back, there had been a pack of Beowolves one the other three sides. Sam had tried keeping Robin behind him, shielding her with his body, but he soon realized that she didn't need protecting. She had brushed him off, drew her rapier, and charged forward with lighting quick speed. In the blink of an eye, all the Beowolves had been killed.

"Interesting. So your semblance is-"

"Speed." Robin cut him off. Thing you'll be able to keep up?" Robin taunted. Sam pulled the hood of his cloak up over head. 'If only she knew,' he thought to himself. But she never would. No one can.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4

After their encounter with the Beowolves, nothing seemed to want to bother the pair. Sam had been about to draw his swords when an Ursa walked past, but after giving the hunters in training a quick glance, it barreled off threw the trees. 'It's almost as if it knows.' Sam wasn't going to complain, though. If he could get through this without an accident, he would be fine.

"Looks like we're here," Robin said, startling Sam out of his thoughts. Pulling his hood back from his face just a little bit, he was able to see what lay ahead. They had exited the forest and come into a large clearing, where what looked like an old temple had once stood. "Okay, let's get the relic and get out of here. I want to be the first pair back." Nodding his consent, Sam walked towards the temple. There were small half pillars of stone that look like they had been worn down with time. On each pillar was a chess piece, and there were two of each type.

"Wonder why there are duplicates," Sam wondered. "Any preference?" Robin inspected the pieces, scrutinizing each one.

"Well, it doesn't appear to be some sort of test or puzzle. I think we just pick one. If that's the case, I know exactly which one I want." Robin picked up a golden king piece. "The king. The leader." A shadow fell on Robin. Sam looked up, but didn't see a cloud in the sky. The source of the shadow was a falling mass of black, green, and pink. Reacting on instinct, Sam dove forward and pushed Robin out of the way. The falling mass landed on him instead, crushing him. 'Oh god. So this is how I die? Flattened by a multicolored UFO? Sounds like something that would happen to Dad,' Sam thought. The mass moved off of him, and he was able to breathe again. Thankful that his time had not yet come, Sam stood up and stretched the kinks out of his back. He was worried that being crushed would become a common thing for him.

"Paige? Harmony?" Sam heard Robin ask. Pulling back his hood, he saw that she was right. The two girls he had met before were both sprawled out on the floor. Paige's wings were spread all the way out, reaching at least 13 feet long together.

"Wait, you know each other?" Sam asked.

"Of course you dolt. Our families have been friends since they graduated here. We basically grew up together. Strange how our parents all conveniently decided to have kids around the same time," Robin said, shrugging her shoulders as if it wasn't a big deal. Anyways, are you alright? What happened?" Paige sat up, tucking her wings behind her back. She was wearing a pair of black pants and a white shirt with a black vest. A large halberd looking polearm was lying on the ground next to her.

"Well, I found Harmony fighting off a couple of Ursa. When I picked her up out of there, a giant Nevermore followed me and clipped one of my wings. I couldn't keep us aloft any longer, and crash landed here. Where is here, exactly?" Paige asked, looking around. By now Harmony had stood up and recoiled her whip, which had come undone.

"I believe we are at the temple," the pink and green clad girl said. She glanced at the chess piece in Robins and, and picked up the matching one.

"Okay. We have our relics. Let's get out of here," Robin said. "Professor Ozpin said to meet us at the other, larger set of ruins. Looks like they're just beyond that ridge. I can see the top of some tower."

"Sounds good to me," Sam said. Maybe they'd make it out of this unscathed. Unfortunately for Sam, fate is a cruel bitch.

Back at the cliff, Ozpin had been joined by a quiet old looking witch, with a Scroll in one hand and a riding crop in the other. Glynda Goodwitch joined the headmaster of Beacon, showing him the Scroll. On it showed the four teenagers running towards the large ruins.

"Ozpin, that person in the black cloak, who are they?" Glynda asked. Ozpin had not informed her or any of the other teachers that he would be at the academy.

"He is the one we have been waiting for Glynda. That boy is the one who is going to save us all." The headmaster sipped his coffee, looking out into the forest. Glynda tapped her Scroll a few times and looked a closer at the screen, squinting her old eyes.

"The three girls I know, of course. How could we ever forget their parents? But him…" Then her eyes widened. "Wait a minute, the black cloak, and the two swords. OZPIN! That's the one everyone has been talking about, with all the rumors about his semblance and power. Every time someone sees him, he's with… For the love of God Ozpin, why didn't you tell me they had a son!" Glynda screamed.

"I had my reason's Glynda. Those rumors you've heard? They're hardly true."

"Well that's a relief. "

"The rumors aren't even close to what this boy can do." Ozpin calmly said. "I asked Jaune and Pyrrha to send him here to that I can help him, guide him, protect him." The witch would have said something else, but she knew her protests would be futile. If the headmaster saw something in this boy, then she would just have to trust him.

"Fine. I'll go along with whatever you say. You're a fool, you know that Ozpin? A young looking, stupid fool."

"Of course I am."


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5

Sam and the girls arrived at the ruins, their relics safely stowed away in pockets and bags. Sam knew ruins were supposed to be ruined. He's spent a lot of time fighting and staying in them. These buildings though were way more broken than they should have been. The bridge was destroyed, but the cracks were barely worn, as if they had happened only a few years ago.

"This is it!" Paige called out from above. She had been cruising above them, looking ahead for enemies.

"She's right," Robin said at Sam's side. "This is where our parents first fought together. Everything is the same, the bridge, the cliff. It's all here."

"Were my parents here?" Sam asked, pulling the hood off of his cloak.

"Yes," Harmony said. So far she had been very quiet. "Your father led my parents and your mom against a Death Stalker."

"Cool," Sam said. "So what do we do now?" Just as the words left his lips, a loud roar came out from the canyon, accompanied by what sounded like a stampede. "What the hell was that?" The first of the Grimm came crawling over the lip of the canyon, followed by an army of monsters.

"You just had to ask," Robin said. The wave of monsters came charging towards them, claws and teeth bared. 'Okay Sam. You've seen worse. You just have to keep these girls safe. An army is nothing.' Then the dragon showed up. It was massive, easily three times as big as a fully grown Nevermore. Its entire scaly body was black, except for the bone mask and spikes that protruded from its body. "What is that thing?" Robin asked, drawing her rapier.

"I'm on it," Paige said. Before Sam could stop her, she flew towards the dragon. Then the other Grimm got within striking distance, and Sam was forced to focus on them. He drew his swords and linked them together. When they snapped in place, a wire was dragged out from the bottom to the top, forming his bow. Jumping on top of one of the pillars to get a better shot, Sam started firing dust arrows into the crowd of monsters. They exploded, taking out large swathes of monsters, though new ones just took their place. When he ran out of dust arrows, Sam switched to his regular ones, hitting Grimm in the eye with every shot.

While he fired, Robin and Harmony took on the Grimm themselves. Robin streaked through the ranks of monsters, stabbing Grimm and firing bullets, dropping monster after monster. Whenever she would take off with her semblance, white rose petals trailed behind her. 'Woah. She's incredible,' Sam thought.

Harmony was just as terrifying as Robin. She leapt among the Grimm, her agility keeping her alive. As Sam watched, she drew her whip and strung it out. Electricity crackled along it, the dust giving it a strong charge. Sam worried that the whip wouldn't be of much use in a fight with so many monsters, but this fear was soon gone. Harmony leapt high into the air, and slashed downward with her whip. It landed on one of the Taijitu. The Grimm's skull was immediately caved in, from the force of the blow. 'That whip must weight a ton!' Sam thought. The electricity of the whip jumped between the other grim, taking out dozens of them. These girls were deadly.

Sam kept firing arrows, but Harmony and Robin were both slowing down. The monsters, however, did not seem to stop. Sam knew what he had to do.

"Robin, Harmony, stay high. I've got this!" Sam shouted, jumping down from his perch. He disconnected his swords, wielding them in each hand. Robin and Harmony looked at him skeptically, but did as he asked. 'Mom and Dad warned me not to show off, but I don't really have a choice.' When the first Grimm got close to him, Sam lashed out, severing the beasts head and arm in one go. Diving around the dead Ursa, Sam ended up in the center of a circle of Beowolves. "Why are you guys always travelling in packs? It makes you easier to kill." He spun, slashing with his sword, decapitating all twelve of them in one go. Thirteen down, about three hundred to go.

It had been a while since Sam had been in a good fight, and he was starting to loosen up. He whirled his way through the monsters, taking them out in droves. He was a whirlwind of death, killing anything that close to him. Sam couldn't help but laugh. These Grimm were hardly as strong as the ones in the uncharted lands. It seemed like seconds to Sam, but in reality it was probably a few minutes before all the Grimm were dead. Looking back up at Robin and Harmony, Sam waved to them, smiling.

"I think I got them all!" He called up. The girls were both staring at him, jaws hanging open. "You guys were awesome! You're stronger than a lot of the huntsmen I've met already." The girls didn't respond, still staring at him like they couldn't believe what they had just seen. "Where's Paige?" Sam asked, remembering the Faunus girl. He saw her swatting at the dragon with her halberd, but it didn't appear to be doing any damage. The giant Grimm raised one of its four giant claws and swatted her out of the sky. She came flying towards Sam, who braced himself and caught her, this time prepared for the impact.

"Sam?" Paige asked, looking up at him with half closed eyes.

"Hey Paige. I'm here. It's okay. You did great," he said, smiling at her.

"I couldn't kill that thing," she said, groaning.

"Do you think you can get me above it? I know you're hurt, but I really need you." Paige, rolled her eyes and stepped away from him.

"Yeah. I can. Grab my hands." Sam did as she told and was soon soaring above the dragon which was circling the ruins. The feeling of flight was incredible. His motion sickness wasn't bothering him at all, thank goodness. "Are you ready?" Paige asked above the sound of the wind. "No offense, but you're really heavy." Sam nodded at her, and let go of her hands. Drawing his swords, he plunged downwards towards the dragon. His swords went all the way to the hilt, piercing the thick, scaly hide just behind the dragon's skull. The beast bellowed and tried to shake him off, but Sam gripped his swords, refusing to let go.

When the dragon finally stopped shaking, Sam stood up and ran towards the dragon's face, slashing as he went, leaving slash marks all across the neck. 'Damn, where is it?' Sam thought, as he moved farther towards the snout. Then his sword sunk farther into the skull than into the skin farther than any of his other attacks had. 'There it is.' Sam had found the dragon's weak point. Sam continued his run forward, reaching the dragon's snout. He hacked down towards the nose of the beast. In pain and desperate to get him off, the dragon opened its giant mouth to roar. Sam used the spring of the mouth opening to launch himself into the air, just above the weak point. Yelling as he fell, Sam stabbed downwards, piercing the dragon's skin, travelling down through the neck where he severed a single, pulsing vein, and out through the bottom. Sam landed at the top of the cliff that the dragon had been flying above just a moment before. Sheathing his swords and replacing his hood back over his face, Sam watched as the giant body of the Grimm fell into the canyon below.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch. 6

An airship had come to pick them up shortly after the dragon had been defeated. First it had gotten Robin, Paige, and Harmony, then Sam at the cliff. When he stepped onto the airship, Robin slapped him.

"Hey! What was that for?" Sam asked, rubbing his now red cheek.

"You dolt! You took on an army of monsters, not to mention some sort of Mega-Grimm that I've never even heard of before. I know we just met, but you're still my partner, and I won't be having you take such risks again without me!" Paige and Harmony both nodded their heads in agreement. Sam was still kind of shocked.

"Wait, you've never heard of a Draconian Grimm before?" He'd encountered them a handful of times with his parents. All Draconians had a hollow space in their neck, covered by a thin layer of skin. Through that hollow space ran a vein that, when severed, caused instant death.

"No, I have not. Either of you?" Robin turned to the other girls. They both shook their heads. 'Maybe they don't have them in Vail.' "Are you okay?" Robin asked, her tone softening a bit. Sam gave himself a look over, checking his limbs.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Paige moved towards him, looking at him from all angles.

"I've never seen anybody fight like you, you know," she said. "You took down an entire army, basically on your own." Sam sat down on one of the seats in the air ship, waiting for it to take off and save him the explanation.

"Who are you, Sam?" Harmony asked. The air ship shook, and took off. Sam's stomach did a backflip, and he clutched at his seat, trying not to be sick. Seeing as they would have to wait for his answer, Paige and Robin sat down on either side of him. Harmony's eyes flashed disappointment, but it was soon gone. She sat down next to Paige and stared out a window.

"Sam Arc. Paige Wukong. Lie Harmony. Robin Schnee. You four collected the white King piece. From now on you will be team Sapphire, with Sam Arc as your leader." 'Wait, what?' Sam wondered. "Congratulations young man," Ozpin said, winking at him. 'Seriously, WHAT?!' Paige started hopping up and down, her wings flapping behind her.

"Cool!" she squealed. Harmony smiled, while Robin looked over at Sam, her eyes squinting. Sam wondered if he could dump the role of leader off on her. She seemed like she'd be good at that.

Living with three girls was harder than defeating an entire army of Draconian Grimm. Harmony rarely spoke, and was very neat. Her area of the room was completely organized, with nothing out of its place. Unfortunately for Sam, she didn't seem to like wearing clothes. Whenever Sam walked into the room, she would be sitting in her bed reading with her robe or uniform open. She was never completely naked, but still it made him uncomfortable. Paige was a mess. Not only were her belongings strewn about the room, but her wings shed feathers EVERYWHERE. Sam began getting up extra early (on nights that he actually managed to sleep) just so he wouldn't have to deal with her wet feathers.

Robin was the worst out of all of them though. The girl was so uptight and strict, Sam felt like he was still living with his mother. Sam didn't have many belongings, so there wasn't much for him to leave lying around, but if his bed wasn't made just right, or his uniform was sloppy, Robin would reprimand him, as well as the other girls.

Sam, having grown up on the battlefield, didn't really understand a lot of what the girls said. They used slang that was unfamiliar to him, so he often needed an explanation, most of the time from Paige. He also did not quite get some of the subtler things that went on around him. For example, one day he had forgotten his shirt and cloak on his bed while taking a shower, so he walked out with just his pants on. Sam could not figure out why the girls were so flustered. Another time he was in the library studying with Harmony, and he saw that she had an eyelash on her cheek. Sam had reached over across the table and gently brushed in away. Harmony just stared at him with wide eyes, her face getting all red. She closed her book and got up from the table, quickly walking out of the library. Sam's weirdest experience though was his meeting with Ozpin, about his leadership.

It started out simply enough. A few days after the team ceremony, he was sitting in a chair in Ozpin's office. The headmaster was staring out the window, sipping his coffee like always.

"So Sam, I assume you're here to talk about your position as leader," the man said. Sam was about to question how he knew, but Ozpin beat him to it. "I had a very similar conversation with your father many years ago. Okay Sam, I'll entertain you. Who do you think should be your replacement?"

"Robin," Sam said without hesitation. Ozpin nodded, walking back to his desk. He tapped a button on an intercom. The speakers in the room, and probably around the whole school crackled to life.

"Robin Schnee, please report to my office." Ozpin's voice echoed from outside the room. Sam sat patiently in his chair, waiting for his friend to arrive. It wasn't long before he heard a knock at the door. "Come in," Ozpin said.

"Headmaster? Did you need- Oh, Sam. What are you doing here?"

"Ah, Ms. Schee. Please, sit down. Mr. Arc here believes you would make a better leader than he would, and was just about to tell me why. I thought you should hear this. Go on Sam." The boy in the chair didn't quite get what the Headmaster was trying to do, but he cleared his throat anyways.

"Well, Robin is responsible. She gets things done. Robin is also very smart. She's a straight A student in the class room, but she's also smart where it matters in life. She figures things out. It's hard to describe, but she does it." He looked over towards Robin, who was staring at her lap.

"Anything else?"

"Well yeah. Of course there is. She's so much more than just smart. She's a great fighter. Graceful, like a dancer, but fast and deadly, like a warrior. Each move she makes is calculated and natural. Especially when she uses her semblance, streaking around like a red streak. It's really something to see. Robin also is kind. She may not act like it, but she cares about others, genuinely worrying about others and their problems."

"Interesting," Ozpin said. "Robin, thank you very much, you can leave now." Without a word, Robin stood up, brushing the wrinkles out of her skirt. When she tried to walk around the chair she had been sitting in, she hit the edge, almost tripping and falling. Ozpin chuckled, a smirk playing across his face. When Robin closed the door behind her, Ozpin let out a much more audible laugh. "It's like I'm reliving the past. You'll have to forgive me Sam. You are the spitting image of your father. And I'm going to give him the same answer I gave him, so very long ago. I chose you to lead your team because I see something inside you, a hidden potential. I'm sticking by my decision. You will stay the leader of your team." Sam was about to speak up, but instead adopted the silent attitude he lived for many years travelling. "Now here's something I did not tell your father. You're already very strong, stronger than many seasoned huntsman. But you have a hidden potential, and this is part of the reason your parents sent you here. I think you already have a clue as to what I'm talking about, but I'll leave that up to you. Have a good day Mr. Arc." This was the signal that Sam was dismissed, and that the matter was not up for debate.

Sam got up from his chair, and began walking toward the door, his cloak billowing behind him, swords clacking against his back. Just as he was reaching for the handle of the door, another thought wormed his way into his mind.

"Professor Ozpin, if you knew from the start that you wouldn't let me step down as leader, why did you call Robin in?" The headmaster smiled.

"Robin did seem rather flustered, didn't she, hearing you say all those nice things about her? Why do you suppose that is?"

"I don't know. Maybe she isn't feeling good. Her face was a little red. Maybe I'll walk her to the nurse. Thank you professor. Have a good day." Sam closed the door behind him, hoping Robin hadn't gotten too far.

"Oh Sam," the headmaster said. "Just as freaking stupid as your father."


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

A few weeks after Sam's meeting with Ozpin, he found himself with his team collecting tree sap in the Forever Falls forest. The red leaves of the trees were falling, covering the ground. Sam didn't like the way his boots crunched. It created too much noise for his liking. Robin, Harmony, and Paige were all walking next to Sam, keeping him between them.

"So we need to find a nice, big tree to get the sap from, right?" Sam asked. Harmony nodded her head. "Paige, why don't you go up and look ahead, so we don't waste our time looking. It will be much quicker."

"Why can't I stay down here with you?" Paige asked, clutching his arm, which Sam thought was weird, but didn't say anything about it.

"Please Paige? It'll be really helpful. Tell you what, if you go, I'll take you shopping this weekend." Sam would never admit it, but he enjoyed shopping. Looking for clothes was boring. He only needed his uniform and his hunting clothes, but he liked going into town, being able to wander around different stores, not constantly looking over his shoulder for threats.

"Fine, but only because you asked," Paige said, before taking off into the air. Robin, who had been standing next to Paige on the outside of the line, moved closer to Sam, their black and red cloaks flapping together as they walked.

"Do you guys want to come with, this weekend? It'll be a good team bonding experience I think," Sam asked.

"Yes!" Robin and Harmony both said, right away. Happy that his team would be able to hang out like normal teenagers, Sam kept walking. Soon, Paige returned, informing the rest of team SPHR that a good tree for sap was just up ahead. The winged girl did seemed a bit put off, seeing that her spot next to Sam had been filled.

Collecting the sap was easy, and soon all four teenagers had jars filled with the sweet, sticky sap. As they were walking back to the rest of their peers, Sam's ears picked up a rustling to his left. Slowing his pace, he signaled for his team to do the same. Trusting their leader, all three girls did the same, coming to a stop. Suddenly, the underbrush exploded and an Ursa Major came crashing towards them. Sam calmly drew one of his swords, not even bothering with both. One Ursa Major would be no problem, but before he could strike the beast down, a fiery comet crushed the Grimm. Smoke and dust filled the air, hiding the projectile from sight.

Drawing his other sword, Sam shuffled his way towards the crater that had formed in the ground, his team taking up places behind him. Paige drew her halberd, spreading her wings in anticipation to fly. Harmony's whip crackled to life with electricity. Robin's rapier spun its chamber, getting ready to fire a bullet at whatever came out of the new scar in the earth. Something bright yellow leapt out of the smoke, barreling straight towards Sam, who rolled out of the way and came up with his swords locked into their bow form, arrow already knocked.

He was stopped from firing, however, when he realized that the yellow blur that had come at him was a woman. Her long, thick blonde hair glowed and she wore a tight brown jacket and pants, which left little to the imagination.

"Helloooooooo!" she called out in a musical voice, flashing a white smile and waving her hand.

"Yang?!" Sam's team yelled. 'Oh know,' Sam thought. 'If the girls all know her, then that means-'

"Robin! How's my favorite niece doing? You've grown so much!" This new woman, Yang said, taking the white haired girl into a crushing bear hug.

"Ow!" Robin cried. "You're crushing me you brute. And I'm you're only niece."

"Yang!" Paige squealed.

"There you are, my little canary. How's your mom? I haven't talked to her or her pet monkey in a while. Harmony, quite as always. One day I'm going to break you out of that shell, and it will be glorious," Yang said, putting Robin down, who had been struggling the whole time. "Hey, Robin, who's Mr. tall, strong, and mysterious over there?" Yang said, turning back to Sam, who had lowered his bow. His hood still covered his face, so this woman probably hadn't gotten a good look at his face yet.

"Aunt Yang, this is Sam Arc, our team leader," Robin said, adjusting her clothes.

"No way! Is this Vomit Boy's kid?!"

"Vomit Boy?" Sam asked, pulling his hood off of his face.

"Wow, it's you alright, just look at that hair and those eyes. Man do I have some stories for you about your parents," Yang said, inspecting Sam up and down. Sam tired his best to avoid looking anywhere but at her face, but he still couldn't help but blush. "Hmmmm… I see it. He's not bad. Definitely got some muscle on him. Moves quickly enough. Hold's himself like a warrior. And look at that blush! Are you embarrassed Sam? How adorable! I can see why you all like him so much," Yang said resting her arm on Sam's shoulder like and arm rest, casually looking at her nails.

"I do not like him!" Robin said.

"Um, I'm sorry, but who are you?" Sam asked. He still had no idea what was going on.

"Sam, this is my aunt, Yang Xio Long. She's my mom Ruby's older sister," Robin answered, still red after Yang's comment.

"Half-sister, but whateves. So VB Jr, what's it like living with these three little beauties? They haven't tried anything on you, have they? If they're anything like their parents' they must get pretty rowdy."

"Um, no. It's fine. So you know my parents?" Sam asked, desperately trying to pull away from the woman, but to no avail.

"Ohhhh yeah. When I met your mom, she was pretty much the same she is now. Bad ass, strong, totally awesome. Although she could not for the life of her talk to your father about her feelings for him. speaking of VB Sr, he was pathetic when I first met him. No combat training, didn't even have his aura unlocked. It took him foreeever to discover his semblance. Pretty much a total loser, although he did have his moments. Right here in this forest he took down his first Ursa Major. It was so cute. Oh to be young again." Yang stared off into the distance, no doubt remembering old times. "Well, we should probably be heading back."

"We?" Paige asked.

"Yeah. When I heard my favorite girls were starting at Beacon, I called in a few favors and got hired as a combat instructor. Now we can hang out every day! Now let's go." Yang started walking, pulling Sam along with her. The other girls rushed after them, all trying to grab Sam, who was having a very hard time keeping his head straight.


	8. Chapter 8

Ch. 8

Yang was a brutal combat instructor. She would devise various scenario fights between individuals, partners, and teams, all of which would end with pretty much everyone covered in bruises and cuts. The worst was when Yang decided she wanted to fight, which was very often. Sam, being one of the only students who could match Yang, let alone last for more than a few seconds against the brawler, was often picked to fight against her.

Not only did Yang run his team ragged physically, she also tormented them with her jokes, many of which involved Sam. Sam rarely understood Yang's jokes, but whenever he would see his team blushing or stammering a response, he knew that it must have been a bad one. Harmony was the exception to this rule though. The normally quiet girl managed to match Yang pun for pun, joke for joke. The two would get into very heated contests, which would leave the rest of SPHR stunned.

"Harmony is a lot like her dad," Paige was telling Sam one day. "He's a very quiet person, like my mom. They both prefer listening rather than speaking. Harmony's mom, however, is like a complete opposite of them. Nora can't stop talking, and is very, very violent. While our quiet little friend is normally like her dad, somethings set her off, like Yang's jokes, and she becomes like her mom. Sometimes it's the jokes, sometimes it's the super crazy hyper stints she goes through, and sometimes it's her temper. I've only seen it once, and let me tell you Sam, it was bad. Robin and I call it 'Dark Harmony.' For someone so small, she sure packs a punch." The faunus girl shivered. All Sam could think about was Harmony's whip, its impossible weight being thrown around effortlessly.

"What about when she becomes really hyper? What set's her off?" Sam asked in a hushed tone. They were alone in their room, Robin and Harmony off doing something else, but he didn't want anyone to hear. Paige leaned in real close, whispering in his ear.

"Cookies."

"Seriously, what is it?"

"I'm not joking Sam. If she eats cookies, she becomes an entirely different person." This was something Sam had never really thought about. Now that he was talking to Paige about it, he realized that he didn't really know much about his teammates. 'Well that's something that's going to change,' Sam thought. The next chance he got, he was going to plan some team bonding where they would learn more about each other.

Sam left his room a little bit later. He was going to go to the training room to work out, but as he was about to enter into the room, he saw Robin. For some reason, she didn't have her cloak on, which Sam thought was weird.

"Hey Robin!" he called out, trying to get her attention. The girl turned, looking for the source of the voice. "Over here! Where are you going?" he asked.

"Oh, hi Sam," Robin responded, coming closer to him. "I was just going to take a walk through the garden. Harmony and I finished our project early, so I thought some fresh air would be nice."

"That does sound good. Can I join you?" Robin looked away from him, huffing.

"I guess if you really want to. Let's go," she said, and started walking off.

The walk started off nice enough. They walked in silence, weaving between planters of different flowers, admiring the vast array of colors and types. They walked close to each other, the thin path through the garden forcing their shoulders to brush every once in a while. Sam was enjoying himself, happy to finally stop and smell the roses, when Robin suddenly paused in front of on plant in particular.

Large white blooms stuck out from the plant on thorny stems. White roses. Sam didn't think much about them until Robin sniffled a bit, wiping her eye with her sleeve.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sam asked, not sure what to do.

"Yeah," Robin said. She looked up at Sam and smiled, a warm smile that melted his heart. "My mom's always have these flowers around the house. It reminds me of them a lot. I've never been away from home for very long without seeing them."

"I know it's hard. But doesn't it make you happy knowing that you have a home to go back to?"

"Of course it does. But it also hurts because I'm not there." Sam thought about it for a second, and decided that he didn't like his teammate, partner, and friend being sad.

"Well, if you can't be home, we'll just have to make it just a little bit more like home here at Beacon!" Sam declared.

"How are you going to-" Robin started to say, but faded off. Sam had knelt down by the rose bush and had something cupped in his hand. Whatever was in his hands he held gingerly, like a fragile piece of glass that could shatter at any moment. He held his hand out to the girl who had a puzzled look on her face, until he opened his hands. Then her expression changed to awe. In his hands was a perfect white rose, with no blemishes or missing petals.

"This one was on the ground. It may have fallen away from the rest of the roses, but it's more beautiful than all of the others put together, not because it's flawless, but because it survived this long without the others, and with a little help, it may just outgrow the rest of them. It reminded me of you," he said with a smile on his face. "Now our room will be just a bit more like home, right?" Robin gently took the flower into her own hands and held it to her body, hugging it while trying not to hurt the delicate rose.

"Thank you Sam. You have no idea how much this means to me." Sam shivered a bit, her teeth clattering. "It's getting cold out. Soon it will be winter. Maybe we should head back before the rose wilts."

"You look cold too," Sam said, observing his friend. "Here." He took off his cloak and wrapped it around the girl and flower. "You don't have yours, so you can wear mine. I'd hate for you to wither too. You're short enough as it is," he chuckled. Robin rolled her eyes at him, but wrapped his cloak tighter around her body, trying to hide the smile that wouldn't go away.

"Thank you, Sam. Maybe you're not so bad." Then Robin started walking away, desperately trying to ignore the feelings stirring inside of her, fighting a battle she knew she would lose.

They made it back to the dorm, but Paige was running around frantically, getting feathers everywhere. Harmony was sitting on Sam's bed for some reason, wearing very little clothing like she usually did. Today it was a very tight black bra and panties that looked suspiciously like lace. Sam, especially weary of the so called 'Dark Harmony' now, tried not to look.

"Paige, calm down!" Robin demanded. "Why are you so worried?"

"It's parents weekend tomorrow!"


	9. Chapter 9

Ch. 9

Parents weekend came faster than any of the kids would have liked. They spent all morning cleaning their room and making sure everything was perfect. They all had their reasons to be nervous about their parents coming to visit. Harmony was worried about her mom doing something embarrassing or breaking something/someone. Paige was afraid that her parents would scold her for not taking care of her wings, letting her feathers fall out naturally instead of keeping them pristine. Robin was didn't know how her mom Weiss would react to her having a male partner, and was afraid her other mom Ruby would steal all the cookies from the kitchen. Even as an adult the reaper still had an addiction. Sam's parents apparently hadn't talked to any of their friends for a long time. He had tried avoiding the topic, but Sam still didn't know why. He was afraid that this weekend might cause some sort of drama to unfold, and would do his best to avoid it.

All four of the kids were sitting on their beds, silent, awaiting their fate. Finally, Paige snapped and stood up.

"I can't do this! I can't just sit here waiting. Let's go get breakfast, or do something. Waiting is only making it worse." The three others all nodded in agreement and stood up. "With any luck, we might not see out parents at all this weekend, if we just stay out of the room," Paige said. Sam held a tiny bit of that hope close to his heart, but fate decided to rip out that hope and crush it underneath its heel, because just as he opened the door, a pink streak shot past him into the room.

"HARMONY!" the streak squealed. Sam spun around to see a short woman, pink clad woman holding Harmony above her head like she weighed nothing.

"Mom," Harmony said. "Please put me down." The girl looked incredibly uncomfortable, and Sam's heart went out to her.

"Nora!" someone else said from the door way. A man in green robes stepped into the room and stood next to Sam. His hair reached down almost to the floor, with a bright pink streak falling down into his face. "I'm sorry sweetie. Your mother is just excited to see you. Also we stopped by the cafeteria and had pancakes, so she's a bit hyper. Paige, Robin, good to see you. How is school?"

"It's good Mr. Ren," Paige replied.

"So far everything has been great, thank you for asking," Robin added. The man turned and looked down at Sam, who wished he had his hood on.

"You must be Sam. It's nice to meet you." Ren held out his hand, which Sam shook. "You know, your father was, is, my best friend. Being the only two guys surrounded by girls really forced us to bond."

"Oh please, you know you two loved being surrounded by beautiful girls!" The woman, Nora said. She had put harmony down and appeared at Sam's side. Her eyes were wide and she had a huge smile on her face. "You look so much like your parents! We were all such good friends. Are they coming today?"

"Uh, yeah. I think so," Sam stuttered.

"YEAH!" Nora sreamed. Sam stumbled away, crashing into the wall.

"There they are! I knew I heard Nora in here," Yang's voice came from down the hall. Three people appeared in the doorway, Yang, and two faunus, a cat and monkey.

"Also all the pancakes were gone from the cafeteria," the cat faunus said. She had bright yellow eyes and long black hair.

"Yo, Paige! What's up?" the blonde monkey faunus said.

"Hey dad! Hi mom!" Paige said, running forward to hug her parents. Sam saw a yellow tail wrap itself around Paige.

"Ren, Nora! How's it going guys?" Yang said, strolling into the room, flaunting it like usual. The cat woman untangled herself from the hug and stalked towards Sam, squinting her eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked, circling around him like a predator. Sam had the strange urge to draw his swords.

"Mom, stop trying to scare him. The whole dark and mysterious thing is kinda weird," Paige complained.

"It's okay Blake, I think it's cute," the blonde monkey man said.

"Sun! That's so cute!" Yang and Nora squealed together. "By the way Blake, that's Sam Arc. VB and Pyrrha's kid," Yang said. "Hell of a fighter, but kinda stupid. Like his mom and dad rolled into one."

"Thank you, I think Ms. Long," Sam said. "Um, hi, everybody. Our room is kinda small. Maybe we could move this outside somewhere?"

"Good thinking VB Jr. Let's go everybody!" Yang said, heading out the door. 'Whew. So far it's been pretty painless,' Sam thought. 'I might just make it out of here alive.'


	10. Chapter 10

Ch. 10

By the time team SPHR herded their parents, and Yang, out of their room, breakfast had finished, and Sam's stomach was growling. The group weaved its way through the crowd of other students and parents until they came to a group of empty benches where they sat down and relaxed. Sam took the opportunity to put his hood on, sitting next to Robin on the far end of one bench trying to avoid the attention of the others. While everyone else traded stories and talked about other things, Sam scanned the crowd for his parents. Besides his team, they were the only other people he felt comfortable with.

"Helloooooo! Earth to Sam," a high voice said right next to his ears, shocking him. Turning, he saw Nora's face inches from his own. He jumped backwards on the bench, falling across Robin and Paige's lap. Both the girls faces grew red as they stared down at the boy sprawled across him. Sam couldn't help but notice Sun, the monkey faunus, looking between Sam and his daughter, a puzzled look on his face. "There you are! You were kinda zoned out there for a second," Nora said, still smiling like she hadn't just scared the life from him. "So how have your parents been? We haven't talked to them in foreeeever. The last time I saw them you were just over a year old. You were so cute, with your big blue eyes. After you left, it was just letters, and few of them."

"They're- um- good. I think. I haven't talked to them all that much since I got here. When I left they were okay. Alive. Wait, you said you knew me when I was little?" He didn't know that anybody else had ever met him.

"Oh, yeah! You and Harmony were born only a few days apart. You two were so cute together. You two did everything together. Eating, sleeping, bathing. It was adorable. I can't believe Pyrrha never showed you any pictures! Especially that one of you two in the bath together," Nora said, staring at him.

"MOM!" Harmony cried. Her face was as red as Sam's hair, a look of utter horror on her face. Ren suddenly perked up and looked at his daughter, then Sam. Just like Sun, he didn't seem to understand why she was acting the way she was. Sam didn't know either, but he was too busy trying to untangle is cloak from Robin's.

"Aw, look how cute they are," Yang said. "Sam's so stupid, right Nora? Blake?"

"Yep," the two other woman said. All the girl's faces turned even redder than before. Ren, Sun, and Sam still had no idea what they were talking about.

"What's this about someone being stupid?" an icy voice said. Sam looked up and saw two beautiful women approaching the group. One was short, with white hair and a matching suit. At her waist was a rapier resembling Robin's, but instead of a gun chamber it had dust cylinders. The other woman was taller and had black hair with red highlights. She had silver eyes which startled Sam. Her red cloak billowed behind her, making her appear like a Grimm reaper. Sam knew who she was. Even he had heard stories about the red cloaked warrior who could take out armies single handedly. Sam wasn't particularly into celebrities, but other than hiding his identity, part of the reason he wore his cloak was because he had heard about this woman and wanted to be strong like her.

"Robin, you never told me your mom was the Red Reaper," Sam whispered his partner. The popular nickname for the huntress was one he had heard many times.

"I didn't think it was important," Robin whispered back. "She's not scary like the rumors. She's actually really immature. I told you about her cookie problem." When the women got closer, Sam couldn't stop his hands from shaking. He was about to meet one of the strongest huntresses in the world, besides his mother, one of his idols. "Hi moms," Robin said, standing to greet them. The Red Reaper suddenly disappeared, leaving behind only rose petals. Sam started looking around for her, but noticed Robin was gone too.

"Ruby, you dolt! Bring our daughter back here!" The white haired woman said, and annoyed look on her face. Sam had seen this woman before on billboards. Weiss Schnee. CEO of the most popular dust company in the world. Sam then spotted a red blur streaking across campus with a white blur in its arms. The blur appeared next Weiss. Ruby was holding Robin in a hug. Robin was currently picking rose petals out of her hair.

"Sorry Weiss. I'm just so excited to see Robin!" Weiss tapped her toe, staring at her wife and daughter, then joined in on the hug.

"Oh Robin!" Weiss said. "I'm happy too. I missed you so much." Tears were coming off both woman's faces, while Robin simply sighed.

"I missed you two too. Now please, there are other people here," the girl said, gesturing towards everyone else. Everyone began hugging and greeting each other like the old friends they were. Sam was still awe struck at seeing Ruby, but managed to introduce himself.

"Hello. I'm Sam Arc," he said, holding out his hand. Weiss went to shake it, but Ruby interfered, pulling him into a hug.

"Sam! It's so nice to finally meet you. Robin talks about you all the time in her letters."

"I do not!"

"Woah, cool swords! Let me guess, they link together at the hilt and make a bow. And are those dust filled arrows?! That's so cool!" the reaper said. Weiss reached for Sam's hand again, shaking it. He couldn't help but notice how cold her hand was.

"I'm sorry Sam. She gets very excited about weapons. It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Weiss Schnee. And that dolt over who doesn't even have the manners to introduce herself is Ruby." More pleasantries were exchanged, and they all sat down on the benches. This time, Robin and Harmony sat on either side of Sam, Paige awkwardly standing behind him for some reason. They talked for a while, until finally it was nearing lunch. When Sam's stomach rumbled loud enough for everyone to hear, Robin, Paige, and Harmony all stood up and said that they should get food because Sam was hungry. This time, Weiss joined the three males in their confusion. Yang gathered Sun, Ren, and Weiss together and whispered something to them that Sam could not hear. All three of their eyes grew wide and they stared at Sam with venomous looks. Still sitting, Ruby Nora and Blake just rolled their eyes and laughed. Sam, even after being at school for a while now, still had a hard time understanding other people, and was still confused.

As the girls pulled Sam along, quiet forcefully, he could feel three venomous glares burning holes into his back, and he didn't know why. Reaching the cafeteria, the girls all tried to get Sam to sit next to him. Not sure why they were all so insistent, he sat down next to Robin. Two more glares were added to the mix. The meal went by relatively quick, with mostly small conversations between the adults filling the silence. Sam couldn't help but notice Ruby's plate had only cookies on it. Sam looked across the table and saw Weiss, Ren, and Sun still staring at him, their food untouched. For some reason, they did not like him. Clearing his throat, Sam stood up.

"Ms. Long, can I talk to you, alone? I have a question about an assignment you gave us?" Yang gave him an apprehensive look, but stood up as well, and walked with him out of the cafeteria.

"What assignment? I don't give homework. You know I hate grading it."

"Yeah, that was a lie. What did you tell Mr. Lie, Mr. Wukong, and Mrs. Schnee? They seem angry at me for some reason. I really don't want my teammates parents to hate me." Yang looked at him, silent for a minute. Then she doubled over laughing. Sam looked away. The way she was bent over- better to turn around. When the woman finally stopped laughing and caught her breath, she put a hand on Sam's shoulder.

"You really don't see it do you?" His blank look must have told her that he didn't know what she was talking about. "Listen kid. I'm your teacher. I'm supposed to help you be a better huntsman, but I'm also here to make you a better person. For that very reason, I'm not going to tell you. The best way for you to figure this out is on your own. But since I'm feeling nice today, I'll give you a hint. When your parents get here, ask your mom about her relationship with your dad, and how it started out. You're a smart kid Sam, but also so incredibly stupid. Good luck!" Yang said before sauntering off.

Sam followed her and was horrified with what he found back in the cafeteria. Ren, Sun, and Weiss were all being restrained by their respected spouses. They were currently yelling and screaming various profanities and threats, some of which Sam thought might be aimed at him.

"If he tries anything I'll kill him!" Sun cried out, Blake trying to wrap him up with some sort of ribbon whip.

"I refuse to let my daughter sleep in the same room as that boy!" Ren declared, trying to push Nora away from him.

"I hope the Ursa are hungry, because they'll be eating good tonight!" Weiss said, drawing her rapier and spinning the chamber. Ruby had clamped herself around Weiss's leg like a toddler, tears running down her cheeks.

"Please don't hurt him Weiss!" the reaper begged. 'Wow, that's my idol?' "Were else is Robin going to find anyone?" 'Wait, what?'

"I'll pay someone!" As the chaos continued, the rest of team SPHR had their heads down on the table, trying to hide.

"Um, guys, maybe we should get out of here," Sam said, sneaking over to the table. The three girls all looked up, smiled when they saw him, then stood up and left with him through a door.


	11. Chapter 11

Ch. 11

Team SPHR safely made it out of the cafeteria and ran to the garden. They sat down, catching their breath.

"What- the hell- happened in there?" Sam asked, leaning against one of the planters. The girls looked among each other, waiting for someone else to speak.

"It was, um, nothing. Just a silly dispute from their days at Beacon," Paige said.

"But I could have sworn they were talking about me?" Sam said.

"No. You must have misheard," Robin said. "So, any idea when your parents will be here?"

"Don't know. I'm going to look around, see if there is anybody else nearby who might have seen them. You guys take a breather." Sam stretched his back and began wandering around the garden. He was about to give up when he saw two people underneath a tree from a distance. He jogged over to them and was about to ask about his parents when he noticed that they were intertwined, kissing each other.

"Oh, sorry. Sorry. Didn't mean to disturb you. I'll just be leaving now," Sam began to walk away, completely embarrassed when someone called after him.

"Sam? Is that you?" The voice was one he would recognize anywhere. "Hey buddy, what's up?" Sam turned around and saw his parents, still holding onto each other, and both smiling at him. His father was the one who had spoken.

"Hi dad. Hi mom." Sam pulled his hood off and rushed towards his parents, embracing both of them. He was slightly taller than his mom, but slightly shorter than his dad. They held onto each other, laughing and squeezing. Sam heard footsteps behind him, and turned around, only to see his team standing there, awkwardly looking at their feet. "Eh hm. Mom, Dad, these are my teammates, Robin, Paige, and Harmony. Guys, these are my parents." The girls still stood there, not daring to move or look at the family. Pyrrha saw that they were uncomfortable, and strode towards them, her scarlet hair flowing behind her.

"If you are my son's teammates, then you are my family. Come here!" she pulled all of them into a hug, which they slowly accepted. "Harmony, it's been so long. You've grown so much! I'm sure you three have been keeping my son out of too much trouble, right?"

"We try our best ma'am," Robin said.

"Don't be so formal Robin!" Sam's father bellowed. He was much bigger than he was in Beacon. His lean build was gone, replaced with corded muscle. His blonde hair was kept short now, and a healthy grown of facial hair formed a beard on his strong jaw. The man's wife, Pyrrha was just as beautiful as she had been at Beacon, even more so that she had matured. Her long legs were evidence of her athletic build, and the way she carried herself showed off her strength and prowess. The golden circlet on her head shined in the sunlight. "Now Sam, where are our old teammates and comrades? I think Ren still owes me 20 Lien!"

"Actually Jaune, you owe him 20 Lien," Pyrrha corrected him.

"Oh. Then maybe I'll hold off on a reunion a while longer ha!" Jaune laughed once again. "Aw, what's a few coins between friends? Harmony, do you know where your parents are?" The girl awkwardly scratched her head.

"In the cafeteria. Now might not be a good time though."

"Nonsense! Pyrrha, let's go see our friends." That's when they heard it. A roar echoed across the school campus. A large shadow fell across the garden. Looking up, Sam saw a huge Draconian Grimm flying above him, heading straight for the main section of the school. "Pyrrha, Sam! We have to stop that thing before it hurts anybody. Let's go." The family took off in the direction the Grimm, the girls following close behind.

When they made it to the main campus, the Grimm was circling the central tower. Bullets and dust attacks flew at the Grimm from all sides, but none of them could do any damage.

"Damn, none of these people know how to deal with this," Jaune said, gripping his sword. His shield was on his arm.

"How do we get up there?" Pyrrha asked. "By the time we climb the tower, there's no telling how much damage that thing will do." Sam stepped forward, preparing himself.

"Mom, Dad, we got this." Turning to his team, he stood a bit straighter. "Harmony, Robin, get everyone out of here. If things go south, they need to be clear. Paige, I'm going to need a ride."

"I'm coming with you," Robin said. "Last time you fought one of those things you almost died." Sam knew Robin well enough that he wasn't going to win this argument. "Paige, can you carry us both?"

"Yeah, probably," the winged girl answered.

"Okay. Let's go. Mom, Dad, stay safe." Sam took hold of one of Paige's hands, Robin her other. Soon they were off.

"Guys, I hope you're ready. I can't hold you for much longer," Paige said, her face beaded with sweat. Sam looked over at Robin, who nodded towards the Grimm. "Ready? Three, two, one!" Paige dropped them. Sam and Robin drew their swords, ready to make impact with the beast. Just as he had done back during the initiation, they plunged their swords into the thick hide. The Grimm's sheer size and the onslaught of attacks from the ground meant that there wasn't much of a reaction from the already restless dragon. When they were confident that they had secure footing, drew began the climb towards the head, slashing along the way, looking for that one weak spot.

Sam was about to hack down one more time when he saw Robin's rapier slide deeper into the skin than any of her other attacks had.

"This is it!" she shouted over roaring wind. Sam nodded, getting ready. This time, instead of diving down like he had before, he slashed a large gash into the skin, creating a large opening through the neck. This caused the Grimm to shake its head violently. When he regained his balance, Sam looked down through he wound he had created, and his heart sank.

The vein, the one weak spot on this otherwise unbeatable Grimm, wasn't there.


	12. Chapter 12

Ch. 12

Robin looked down and leaned closer to Sam.

"Where's the vein? I don't see anything!" she yelled.

"It's not here!" Sam responded, desperately racking his brain for options. He kept coming back to one idea, but he didn't like it. If he didn't do it, though, everyone in the school, and the nearby city, could die. He couldn't let that happen, even if it did mean that his secret would be out. Sam was going to have to use his semblance, which meant that everyone might die anyways. First, though, he had to get Robin out of here. Luckily, Paige was still nearby. Sam waved her over, and she floated right above the circling beasts head.

"Paige, I need you to get Robin out of here. Both of you, get everyone out of here. Things are going to get very, very dangerous," he said. Robin shook her head.

"Hell no Sam. First of all, how can things get any more dangerous than they already are? Second, I'm not leaving you. You promised you wouldn't take risks like me alone," she said, still keeping her grasp onto the Grimm. "Paige, go tell everyone to leave. Sam and I will figure something out." Paige looked at Sam, locking eyes with him. He stared back, hoping she would know what to do. Paige broke contact and dove down, towards the ground. "Okay Sam. What are we going to do?"

"I know I made a promise to let you stay with me. And I always keep my promises," he said, ignoring her question.

"Yes, I know, which is why I'm here."

"I always keep my promises, which is why I have to break this one." Robin had a puzzled look on her face, which to shock when he kicked her in the gut, sending her over the edge of the Grimm, her sword rolling off the side with her. "I'm sorry Robin," Sam whispered to himself. Paige swooped out from underneath the Grimm, holding a screaming Robin in her arms, the pair descending towards the school.

Now that he was alone, it was time for Sam to get to work. His semblance was something he had only used a handful of times, and each time had almost killed everyone around him. Sam's secret, the one him, his parents, and apparently Professor Ozpin had been keeping was his semblance. His semblance had unlocked itself that first night he was with his parents in the forest. The reason it had taken them so long to get out of the forest was they had to pick their way out of the damage he had created, completely altering the terrain.

Sam sheathed his swords, and closed his eyes, concentrating. He had only used his semblance a few times, and even fewer of those times was it on purpose, and it required incredible concentration. He focused on his core, trying to get his power started. Soon, something clicked inside him and his aura flared. His body glowed white, his aura flicking off of him like fire. He could feel his hair rippling and his cloak billowing behind him even more than it had before. Even though he couldn't see it, he knew his eyes were now bright golden orbs. At least that's the way his parents had described it.

His body filled with strength, and all his fatigue was gone. His senses were sharper, everything brighter and louder. He began to feel things too, below him, hundreds of bright lights called out to him, each one different, unique, but connected. He was feeling the souls of every living thing nearby, all the humans, faunus, and animals below. He could not feel anything bright and warm coming off the Grimm, just darkness.

Sam's semblance was in full swing now. He began floating above the Grimm, another ability unlocked with his semblance. He didn't need wings like Paige to fly. He pushed aura out through his legs, allowing him to fly. He was strong enough to fight, and kill anything. He was unstoppable. Sam was the closest thing to a god that there was, and this Grimm had pissed this god off.

Sam appeared in front of the Grimm's face, his body glowing and emanating power. The dragon did not seem impressed however, and opened its giant maw, intent on swallowing him. Sam was taken into the beast's mouth, but the dragon never finished closing its mouth. Sam easily stopped the top jaw's descent, his impossible strength easily overpowering the dragons. Angry that some monster had dared to attack his friends and family, Sam pushed more of his aura out. The insides of the Grimm began to glow, then burn. Sam broke his way out of the mouth and was once again outside. Moving towards the falling dragon's tail with speed that would leave even Ruby and Robin speechless, he gripped the scaly appendage, and heave, throwing the entire dragon towards the endless wilderness behind the school easier than a person would throw a paper ball. In seconds, the Grimm was out of sight for everyone below. Sam's vision though extended towards the horizon where the world curved, and then some. He didn't look away until he was sure the Grimm was gone.

The enemy was gone, and Sam knew that his job was done, and that he had to deactivate his semblance, but he couldn't. His aura was flowing to strongly now, and he couldn't control it. He could feel his body growing hotter, burning out from the overwhelming power. Desperate to get rid of the power, Sam raised his arms upward, pushing with all his might. The energy shot towards the sky and into space.

It felt like an eternity before Sam stopped feeling like his entire body was burning up. His aura began flowing less and less before there was almost nothing. He began slowly descending towards the ground, where he landed in the center of a large circle of people, no one daring to get close to him. Five people, though, broke through the ring and rushed towards Sam. It was his parents and teammates, all of them with terrified looks on their faces. Sam fell into his mother's arms, who sunk to her knees, patting his head.

"Hey guys," Sam whispered, his vision filling with black spots. "I'm sorry you had to see that. Is everyone okay?" Everyone nodded. Satisfied that nobody had been hurt, Sam let the black dots consolidate, forcing him into unconsciousness.


	13. Chapter 13

Ch. 13

Sam woke up in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors and nurses. He tried to sit up, but his body was still too weak, and he fell back to his bed. One of the nurses brought a cold towel and rested it on his forehead before leaving the room. Sam was about to ask where his family and team were, but before he could, all the doctors and nurses followed the first one out of the room, leaving him alone. When all the white coats had shuffled out, only one person remained. Professor Ozpin stood in the doorway, alone, leaning against his cane. For some reason, the Headmaster suddenly looked much older than he had before, as if he had aged 10 years overnight. While Sam pondered his new appearance, Ozpin walked closer to him, his cane clicking against the wood floor.

"So you're awake," the man said, sitting on the bed to Sam's right, both hands rested on his cane. "For a while there nobody knew what was going to happen to you. It was very touch and go."

"Well, I'm fine now. Can I see my parents and team?" Sam asked. It was a lie, of course. His entire body was wracked with pain, but he refused to let the headmaster see. Sam was stubborn like that.

"I think we both know that you are not, and the added stress of allowing visitors would be detrimental to your health. However, I think you can handle it. But before anyone else see's you, we need to talk." Sam knew this would be coming, but he dreaded it all the same. This was supposed to be his secret. That was one of the most important things his parents had told him. He knew Ozpin wouldn't like it, but Sam would keep his secret a little longer. "It's okay Sam. I already talked to your parents. This time, considering the circumstances, they told me everything about your semblance. To summarize, with concentration, or proper provocation, your aura begins multiplying at an exponential rate. With this comes incredible power, strength, speed, and I'm sure any number of, unique, abilities. You are all but unstoppable." Ozpin hesitated. "Correction. You ARE unstoppable. There is a downside to this, however. The human body cannot handle such extreme aura flow for more than a few moments. Eventually, you start burning out, and unless you can unleash it all quick enough, well, I'm sure the results are rather cataclysmic. If one were to manage to release the aura fast enough, though, then it is possible that the aura multiplication will return to a normal level. Am I correct?" Sam hesitated, finally giving in and nodding, looking up at the ceiling. "If someone with this ability was studied, then perhaps the technique could be replicated and altered. I'm sure any number of people would pay a hefty sum for such a research opportunity." 'Oh no. He's going to turn me in for the cash,' Sam thought.

"There is no need to worry Mr. Arc. I do not intend to pursue such actions. I believe that it is not our place as humans to decide who gets to wield power. Only fate has the final say on such things, and it seems to have chosen you to carry such a gift. Yes Sam, a gift. You may see it as a burden now, but in time, I hope you learn otherwise. I will do all in my power to keep you safe until it is time that you do not need me anymore. All I ask is that if you have any problems, you ask for help. It doesn't have to be me. Your parents, a friend, perhaps one of your teammates." Ozpin grinned at this. "Do not try to carry it alone. You may have impossible strength, but this is not a weight you can bear alone." Sam lifted his head a bit, trying to get a good look at the headmaster. "Okay Sam?"

"Yes sir," was Sam's only response.

"Ever the warrior," Ozpin chuckled. "I think your secret is safe for now. The official story is that you used an experimental dust bomb to kill the Grimm. You were glowing so bright it was hard to see anything. It sounds like people are believing it. I urge you to consider telling your team though. Secrets breed distrust, which in a combat situation leads to casualties." Ozpin took a sip of coffee. "Well, I think it's time your friends and family see you, if you're up for it. I expect great things from you Mr. Arc. Great things." With that, Ozpin stood up and strolled towards the door. For a few minutes, Sam was alone, left to thing about the headmaster's words. Then the door burst open and 12 people rushed in, followed by a nurse yelling at them.

"Only family is allowed to visit!" the young woman said. Sam's mom, Pyrrha, whipped around, spear pointed at the woman's neck.

"They are family." Sam couldn't see his moms face, but he knew the look she was giving, and it was one that he had seen scare off a full grown Ursa. The nurse gulped before tiptoeing away, as if trying to avoid attention from an angry lioness. When she was a few feet away from the door, the nurse turned and bolted leaving them alone. The charge for Sam's bed resumed, Robin and Ruby arriving first, of course.

The first thing Robin did was hug him. She wrapped her lithe frame around his, nuzzling her face against his chest. She was crying, tears pouring down her face, her back heaving.

"You- you're okay. I was so worried. When you fell to the ground, and after you passed out, I touched you. First you were really hot, and then cold, like a- like a corpse. I couldn't even tell if you were breathing-" Robin continued crying. Everyone else made it to the bed by then. Paige and Harmony joined Robin on Sam's bed, both of them teary eyed as well. Finding the strength to do so, he managed to lift his arms and wrap all three of them in a hug, holding them as close to him as he could.

"Shhhh. It's okay. I'm okay, see? Not a scratch on me," he tried to joke. He winced at the effort, but managed to laugh none the less. It took a while, but soon the girls stopped crying and their parents managed to pull them off of Sam, though they insisted on sitting on his bed. Robin even refused to let go of his hand.

"Sam, that was so cool!" Ruby shouted when the tears stopped flowing. Sam blushed. Getting a compliment from one of the strongest people in history did that to you. "Where did you get the dust bomb? Who made it? Was that how big the explosion was supposed to be?" With each question Ruby zipped to another side of his bed, making it hard to follow her. The way she talked made her seem like a teenager still, once again stunning Sam. Finally Weiss stepped in and restrained the Red Reaper before she could take off again.

"Yes, dust bomb. Interesting. Sam, sometime in the future I would like to talk to you. To properly congratulate your victory," Weiss said, her eyes squinting at Sam. At first he thought she was still mad at him from before, the reason still unknown to him, but this time her stare was different. Instead of angry it was more questioning, like she was looking for something. Trying to avoid her gaze, and dreading the talk, Sam looked away, only to realize that he was inches away from bright green eyes that belonged to none other than Nora.

"You know, my hammer uses dust bombs too!" she shriek. "We're like twins! Except I'm older. Not a lot older though! And you're a boy, and we look nothing alike. But still basically twins!"

"Yes Nora. Twins. Now please give the boy some space," Ren said, pulling his wife away. "Hm, Sam, good job. You know, I think I would enjoy sparring with you one day. I'm sure you could handle it after watching you today." The green robed man's eyes narrowed even more than they already were. Unlike Weiss, his stare still emanated something scary.

"I would like to be there too, good buddy Ren," Sun said. He stood next to Ren and glared at Sam too. "Say, does Beacon still have that soundproof training room with doors that lock from the inside?" Sam made a mental note to avoid that room at all costs. Luckily Paige's mom saved him with her shroud and pulled both men away from the bed. Sam was relieved to see that the spot was filled by his parents.

"So Sam, Ozpin said he came and spoke to you?" his mom asked. Sam nodded his head. "Good. I'm so happy you're okay."

"I'm so proud of you son. You took a risk to save your friends. I know we've been in some tough spots, but today you really came into your own," His father said, resting a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "I think sending you to Beacon was the right choice. Right sweetie?" Pyrrha nodded, kissing Sam's forehead. The conversation went on for a while longer, until the sun went down. Everyone was tired, Sam especially, and the doctors, hiding behind their clip boards, hesitantly asked the group to give Sam the night to rest. All the adults left, his mother quiet reluctantly, but Sam asked if the girls could stay. They all agreed, and soon fell asleep on Sam's bed, all tangled together.


	14. Chapter 14

Ch. 14

Sam was woken up by a nightmare. He carefully sat up, trying not to disturb any of the girls on his bed. Slowly he removed Harmony's hand from around his neck and gingerly enweaved himself from the sheets. Putting his boots, weapons, and cloak back on, Sam snuck out of the infirmary soundlessly. Sam healed quick, allowing him to move, but there were still aches in his body. Ignoring the pain, he began walking through the court yard, hoping the cold air would calm his thoughts. As he passed on building, a hand reached out and pulled him by the hood into a dark alley. Sam tried to draw one of his swords, but he stopped when a blade was pushed to his throat.

"Don't move. Don't make a noise. I won't hurt you. I just need to talk," a female voice came from the shadows. Sam tried to relax his body to signal that he wouldn't try anything, but that was hard to do with razor sharp steel pinning you to a wall. Luckily, his kidnapper lowered the sword. Out of the darkness stepped Weiss, still wearing her white clothing.

"Mrs. Schnee? What's going on?" Sam asked, puzzled by the woman's appearance.

"I'm sorry but it can't wait till morning. Sam, I run the world's largest dust manufacturing company in the world. My company has never developed a dust bomb capable of what happened to day. I also know for a fact that no other dust company has either. So you must understand why I don't believe everything you, your parents, and Ozpin have told everyone." Sam stayed silent. "You come out of nowhere with amazing talents and skills, and pull a stunt like what happened today. I don't know how you defeated that Grimm today, and I don't think I want to. The only reason I haven't called Schnee Dust Company for backup to help bring you in is my respect and trust in your parents as well as my daughter, who seems to trust you as well." Sam tried opening his mouth to say something, but again his throat was introduced to metal. "So far I haven't told anybody else my suspicions, not even Ruby, and I never keep secrets from her. Right now, swear to me by everything you hold dear that my daughter is not in danger. If she is, nothing will keep you safe. I will come after you will all the resources I have, which is a lot. All of that pales in comparison, though, to what my beautiful wife will do if she so much as hears a whisper that Robin might get hurt. She will tear apart heaven and earth to protect our little girl. Do you hear me?!" Weiss's voice was loud now, but Sam was to scared of the short white haired woman to worry about people hearing.

"I swear, I will protect Robin with my life. I'll defend all of them. I give you my word," Sam said.

"And an Arc never goes back on his word, am I right?" Weiss asked. Sam almost chuckled at hearing his fathers mantra. He nodded. Sam wasn't scared anymore. All he and this woman wanted was the protect those close to them. Weiss relaxed. "Okay. For now you can keep your head. I'm sorry I had to do this Sam. I really am. Robin may seem like a cold person sometimes. I'm ashamed to say she got that from me. That's why I sent her here. When I was a student, I really thawed out because of the amazing friends I had. One in particular..." Weiss seemed to snap to attention again. "Sam Arc, you better not try any funny business with my daughter. If I hear that you're harassing her I will find you, and I will kill you. Very, veeeeeeery slowly." Sam gulped. He didn't know what she was talking about, but he didn't even bother arguing.

"Yes ma'am. No funny business. Not exactly sure what you're talking about, but I promise it won't happen. Can I please leave now?" Weiss hesitated before stepping back into the shadows.

"I have my eye on you Sam Arc," then she was gone. Sam took a deep breath of air before walking back to the infirmary, his hands shaking the whole time.


	15. Chapter 15

Ch. 15

The next day was a whirlwind of activity. Sam forcefully discharged himself from the hospital, insisting that he was fine. Only a call to Ozpin's office convinced the staff that he was free to go, however reluctant they were. When all the parents arrived back from town, Nora had the idea that they should have a girls day, to which everyone agreed. Sam's mom, Weiss (who avoided eye contact with Sam the whole time they were together, Ruby, Blake, and Sam's team all left on an airship for town. Sam, his dad, Ren, and Sun were left at the school.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Sun asked, casually peeling a banana. Luckily, neither him nor Ren seemed to show any hostility so far.

"I think you guys mentioned going to the training room yesterday, yeah?" Jaune asked. Contrary to his previous reluctance to fight, Jaune had grown to enjoy combat a great deal. Sun stopped eating his banana, he and Ren both had a gleam in their eyes. Sam silently cursed his dad.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea Jaune." Ren, who rarely broke his silence, seemed excited. "What about you Sam? I know you just got out of hospital, but I'm sure a strong young man such as yourself recovers quickly."

"Yeah, how about it Sam?" Sun stood uncomfortably close to the boy.

"Of course he's fine!" Jaune laughed, clapping his son on the back. "He's an Arc. We're always ready for a fight." Jaune knew that Sam was feeling alright. The effects of Sam's semblance only left him sore and fatigued for a little while. Sam actually felt really loose and ready to go.

"Sure, why not. Let's go." Sam started walking towards the training hall, his cloak billowing behind him.

Yang caught up with them on their way to the hall. Sam pulled her aside, and whispered to her as they walked.

"Why didn't you go with the other girls? Aren't they your friends?" he asked the smiling blonde.

"Yeah, and normally I would love to go. However, I had a gut feeling that watching a sparring match between you and those two was something I couldn't miss," Yang said, gesturing towards Ren and Sun.

"Wow, thanks for the support. You're possibly the worst mentor ever."

"Yep! Btw, did you ever talk to your mom about your little, situation?" Sam remembered his conversation with the blonde in the cafeteria. Ignoring the fact that he didn't know what "btw" meant, Sam shook his head. "Well, make sure you do. I really think it will be an enlightening conversation."

"Whatever," Sam hugged, and continued walking.

When they reached the training hall, Yang started firing up equipment.

"The nostalgia really hits you like a train," Jaune commented. "Sam, you should have seen some of the fights I lost in this place." No matter how many times his father reminded him about it, Sam could never wrap his head around the fact that his dad had started out as a complete loser. "I have an idea! Why don't we fight as teams, Sam and me against you three." Sam looked at his father skeptically. "Yang, can you set up a siege simulation? My son and I will defend while you guys attack."

"You got it VB," Yang said, walking to the control panel. Clicking a few buttons, the floor began to shake. The training hall floor was made out of movable metal blocks which could form almost any terrain or structure needed. The center of the room began raising, blocks stacking on top of each other to form a crude tower five meters high. A flag, which shimmered before displaying the Arc/Nikos family crest, appeared at the top. A low, one meter high wall surrounded the tower, with various other blocks forming barriers on the outside that the attacking huntsman could take cover behind. A digital clock hologram appeared on the walls, displaying a twenty minute countdown. If Sam and his dad could defend their flag until that timer hit zero, they would win.

"Nice touch with the flag Yang," Jaune whistled. "Ready Sam? It's been a while since we fought together."

"Yeah Dad, I'm ready."


	16. Chapter 16

Ch. 16

Sam and Jaune took their places behind the low wall, each on opposite sides of the tower. Jaune unhooked his sheath from his belt. Drawing the sword and activating the shield, the blonde man spun the sword around a few times with a finesse that showed how naturally the weapons felt in his hands. Jaune also pressed a button on his breastplate, which began expanding until it covered almost his entire body in white knight armor, helmet and all. Sam drew his swords, immediately locking them together to form his bow. While the draw string slid into place, he called out to his dad.

"So what can you tell me about these guys? How do they fight?" Sam pulled his hood farther over his face, trying to hide his eyes so his opponents wouldn't know where he was looking.

"Well you probably know all about Yang and her powerhouse punches," Jaune replied from the other side of the tower. "Ren is really nimble and quick. He's got these dual automatic pistols. You should be able to block his bullets at least from a distance. Be careful when he gets close though. The guns have blades on them, and he's an expert hand to hand fighter. Try to keep your distance."

"Distance. Got it. Sun?"

"He's a monkey faunus, so he'll be jumping around all over the place. Together he and Ren will be pretty difficult targets, but you should be okay. His staff collapses into four single shot pistols, but once he's fired them, they're still deadly maces."

"Okay. They should be coming any time now." Sam knocked an explosive arrow.

"Sam, listen. I know you've got it under pretty good control, but if your semblance starts acting up-"

"I'm fine dad. You know that."

"I do. But you can't blame me for worrying." Jaune's voice wasn't like it usually was, full of confidence and gusto. Now it sounded concerned. "I trust you Sam. And it's not just because you're an Arc. It's because you're you." Sam was about to respond, but he saw a flash of pink. His conversation with his dad would have to wait for another time.

"My two o'clock. Pink. They're here," he said. He and his father had fought together so many times, they automatically fell into warrior mode when a fight broke out. "My 8 o'clock. Yellow. Can't tell if it's Yang or Sun."

"It's Sun." Sam was about to ask how his dad knew, but then he heard an explosion behind him. Glancing back, only for a moment, he saw a huge wall of white aura, fire blazing on the other side. Yang must have launched herself at his dad, only to meet his semblance, the ability to form his aura into an impenetrable shield. Back at his side, Sam saw Ren leap over one of the obstacles. Firing his arrow, the black haired man easily dodged it. The explosion, though, knocked him sideways into a pillar. Sun appeared from behind the same pillar. Sam fired another arrow, but the monkey man shot it out of the air. The two men were lost from sight as the smoke from the explosion gave them perfect cover. Cursing himself for not thinking about that, Sam knocked another arrow and waited for a clear shot.

The fight continued like this for a while, Sam firing arrows while his opponents dodged or fired back, slowly gaining ground. Jaune continued to hold out against Yang's relentless barrage, but Sam knew that his dad could only last for so long. When the clock had five minutes left on it, the three attackers tried a different tactic. Grouping together, they all charged together. Sam stood shoulder to shoulder with his dad, preparing for close quarter fighting.

Yang again launched herself into Jaune's wall. Sun and Ren used her distraction to move over the low wall on either side of the aura barrier. Jaune dropped his semblance and turned to face Ren, momentarily forgetting about Yang who had been blown backwards away from the tower. The father son duo stood back to back, swords drawn. Sam lunged forward with his left sword as Sun got closer. The faunus swung one of his guns towards Sam and fired, but the boy's right sword was already in motion, flicking the projectile aside. Kicking out, Sam knocked another gun aside which fired uselessly away. They continued their battle, weapons spinning like deadly fans, neither managing to land a direct blow.

Meanwhile, Jaune and Ren fought, but neither gained any ground either. They had fought each other too many times and knew every move the other had. The clock continued counting down to the last couple of minutes. Yang reappeared, and made a desperate move for the flag.

"Sam, you get these two! I've got to stop Yang!" Jaune yelled before leaping after the brawler. Sam backed up, using the tower to cover his back while the men attacked him from every other possible angle, jumping and rolling around like wild men. Sam desperately defended himself, running mostly off instinct and reflex. This was one of the hardest fights he had ever been in. He couldn't tell if it was because these men were so skilled or because they wanted his blood that badly. Sam could feel his body begin getting hotter and hotter. His intense aura usage was threatening to pull out his semblance. He had to get away and cool off.

Thankfully, he was saved when the clock hit zero and the alarm blared victory for the Arc's.

"Oh yeah!" Jaune called from the top of the tower, his sword raised in triumph.

"You idiots," Yang said, jumping down to ground level. "If the both of you had been more focused on the flag than the kid here we might have won." Ren and Sun just grumbled under their breath. "Good moves Sam," Yang said turning to him. "Try not moving your arms so much. Shorter, more decisive moves will conserve energy and leave you less vulnerable, which is something you really have to look out for without a shield or a semblance like your dad's."

"Yes, Ms. Xiao Long," he replied, sheathing his swords behind him and pulling his hood back over his face. His fight for survival had torn it away from him.

"Stop with that! It makes me feel old. Who wants some grub? I'm starving!"


	17. Chapter 17

Ch. 17

After a quick stop at the cafeteria, the men plus Yang decided to stop off at Ozpins office and rehash old stories with the professor. Sun was catching the headmaster up on the whereabouts of his old team, and Sam was staring out the window that overlooked the city. An airship was on its way back, and Sam wondered if it was the one that carried his friends. They were supposed to arrive any time now.

As he watched, the ship began to stall in the air, spinning rapidly.

"Um, Professor, you might want to see this," Sam said, not taking his eyes off the ship. The adults all joined him at the window, their breath's caught in their throat. The ship veered way of course, then exploded, sending molten metal and shards everywhere. From the explosion came a single parachute, slowly lowering the pilot to the ground. He had managed to eject himself, but the passengers of the ship would not have been so lucky. All his life, Sam had doubted the existence of any gods, but now he prayed with all his heart, willing to give anything to ensure that his friends weren't on that ship.

His body began growing hotter, he could feel his aura building up inside, trying desperately to get out. Jaune must have known what was happening because he pulled his son into a close hug, trying to calm him down. Smell of his dad's oaky cologne mixed with a hint of his mom's perfume soothed the boy. His aura stopped growing, but it didn't go away either.

"Ozpin, we have to get down there!" Sun said, already making his way for the door, Ren right behind him.

"I'm calling in support right now. I'll join you shortly," the professor said. Giving his son one last pat on the back, Jaune ran for the door as well. Sam, even though he wasn't very good with people, he knew his dad well enough to see the complete and total fear in his eyes, no matter how well it was hidden.

Sam and the others ran for the crash site, fearing the worst. Sam rushed into the wreckage, his cloak becoming singed by the flames. He didn't care though, all he cared about at the moment was making sure his friends were okay. Turning over red hot pieces of metal with his bare hands, he desperately searched for any sign of life. Jaune, Yang, Ren, and Sun joined him, all thoughts of personal safety forgotten. They searched everywhere, but found very little. A red scrap of fabric caught Sam's attention, and he pulled the burned scrap off a jagged piece of metal. Clutching it to his chest, Sam fell to his knees. The material in his hands was the same color as Robin's cloak.

"Sam," Jaune said to his son. "We found the pilot." Sam looked back through watery eyes. He saw a middle aged man wearing a flight suit sitting on the ground next to Yang, who was questioning him.

"What happened to the passengers on your ship?" she asked. The blonde's voice was harsh and demanding. The pilot looked scared, but cleared his throat.

"There weren't any. I was transporting a large dust shipment to the school, when suddenly my controls went dead. Everything started sparking inside the cabin, and when the fire started, I ejected. I'm sorry, I don't know what happened. I've been a good pilot, never once had any troubles." The man went on talking, clearly shocked from the whole ordeal. 'Wait, so they're still alive?' Sam wondered, staring down at the red scrap in his hand. A gust of wind blew it away. A vibrating in his pocket brought Sam back to reality. His scroll was receiving a call.

"Hello?" he asked, his voice shaking.

"Sam?" It was Robin on the other end. Sam's heart swelled. "Hello?"

"You're alive!" Sam cried, almost dropping the scroll. "Thank the gods you're alive! Is everyone there with you? Are they okay?"

"Of course they are you dolt. What's wrong? Our airship was delayed. I called when I saw a plume of smoke coming from the direction of Beacon. Is everything okay there?" Sam told her about the crash. There was a lot of commotion on the other side of the call. Soon, the other men's and Yang's scrolls were all going off, their families calling. "It's okay Sam. We're all okay. Harmony and Paige are trying to steal my scroll. We can talk when we get back, okay?" Sam was reluctant to hang up.

"Okay, sure. Please be safe, okay? For me." There was silence on the other end for a little bit.

"Yeah," Robin replied, her voice soft. "For you."

Ozpin joined Sam and the others soon after Sam hung up the call. A medical team was with him, but Jaune informed the headmaster that there were no casualties. Ozpin sighed, obviously relieved. Collecting himself once more, Ozpin walked through the wreckage, poking around with his cane.

"What did you say the airship was carrying?" he asked to no one in particular. The pilot, who had been getting looked over by one of the medical staff stood up, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

"A large dust shipment from Zander Corp," he replied.

"Zander Corp?" Sun asked. "Isn't that the second rate dust company that's always trying to shell off crappy dust?"

"For lack of a better term, yes," Ozpin said. "We use some of their products for less promising projects because it's cheaper, significantly. However, I'm not seeing any shipping containers in this wreckage. I'll have the surrounding area searched, but I doubt they'll find anything. Excuse me, I need to make a few calls. Give my sincerest greetings to everyone when they arrive." Ozpin walked off, staring at his scroll. Sam made a mental note to talk to headmaster later. Obviously there was more to this dust shipment than he was letting on. For now, though, he wanted to give his mom and team a big hug.


	18. Chapter 18

Ch. 18

Sam has cried three times in his memory. The first was his first night with his parents in the forest, when the Grimm came after him. The second was on his birthday, when his parents gave him his swords and cloak. The third was that afternoon. He couldn't hold back the tears seeing everyone stepping off the airship. He and his dad rushed forward to hug Pyrrha. Ren rapped Nora and Harmony up in a tight embrace. Sun grabbed Blake and Paige, who spread her wings around her family. Yang was left with Ruby, her little sister. Not a dry eye was to be found at the airstrip. Even the pilot had watery eyes.

Stepping back from hugging his mom, Sam was tackled to the ground, his three teammates all trying to get to him. The tears only flowed more, not from the pain of falling, but from overwhelming joy. The teenagers all huddled together, crying and laughing together.

"You guys, I don't know what I would do without you," he Sam said, holding his team tight.

"You'll never have to," Paige said. "We'll always be together."

"Not even death will keep us apart," Robin said, her cloak wrapped around his. Harmony didn't say anything, just buried her face in Sam's chest. Sam's scroll beeped with a message, but he ignored it, savoring the moment. His team, team SPHR, was together.

Eventually, Sun pointed out that the tarmac was hardly the most comfortable place for a reunion, so instead the group moved to the dorms common room. No other teams or their parents seemed to around, so they had a party. While in town, the girls had visited a lot of shops, and brought back a lot of bags, a couple of which were filled with food. Ren was volunteered to cook, a tradition from the adults time at Beacon. The quiet man a fantastic chef, and soon everyone was lounging around, their stomachs too full to move. Everyone, that is, except for Yang. The blonde flitted around the room, obviously looking for something. Nobody paid her any attention until she cried out in victory.

"I got it!" The blonde woman was holding something above her head. It was an empty bottle. "Do you guys remember this?" Yang waved the bottle in front of Ruby and Weiss' face. The color drained from both woman's faces.

"Oh no," Jaune said, scrambling away from the bottle, which Yang set down on a table in the middle of the room. "We are not doing that again. I swore to never subject myself to such torment ever again!" Sam was very concerned. His dad had never acted this nervous before. Something was obviously up.

"Oh come on VB! You know you loved our little games of Truth or Dare." Yang sat down on the couch next to Sam, getting comfortable. She had a huge grin on her face.

"I most certainly did not. It basically ended up being a game of who can we humiliate the most, most of the time that being me! I refuse."

"Come on Jaune, it will be fun," Pyrrha said, putting her hand on her husband's shoulder.

"Fine," Jaune grumbled. Everyone else reluctantly agreed, even Sam, never one to back down from a challenge, even if he didn't know what the game was.

"Okay. Whoever the bottle lands on, has to pick between a dare or telling a truth. Got it? Let's go!" Yang spun the bottle, and the game was on. Sam didn't think the game would be that hard, but was soon proved wrong. The truths were horrible, and the dares were embarrassing. At one point, Yang dared Harmony to sit on Sam's lap. He didn't know why, but the short girl just blushed and did as she was told. Ren was about to say something, but Nora stopped him.

"Renny, you know the rules. No complaining!"

"But-"

"Nope!" Sam was lucky, the bottle seemed to ignore him the entire time. Luck, however, always seems to turn in the worst possible way, and he wound up looking at the open end of the bottle. The one who spun it was none other than the Red Reaper, Ruby.

"Sam! Truth or Dare?" her childish voice squeaked. He was still having a hard time believing that this was the woman he had heard so much about. Even Paige seemed more mature than her, which was saying something.

"Um, truth." There was no way he was doing dare, especially after what his mom had made Ren do. It was too despicable for words, and he could never look at the woman the same way again.

"Do you have a crush on anyone?" Ruby asked. Her silver eyed stare made him uncomfortable.

"What's a crush?" Sam asked. Everyone looked shocked.

"You two did a horrible job of raising him," Nora whispered in a not so quiet voice to Sam's parents. They simply bowed their heads in defeat. "Well Sam, a crush is when you really, really like someone!"

"Oh, okay. Then yeah, I do. I have a crush on Robin, Harmony, and Paige." There was silence in the room. Harmony, who Ren had dared to get off Sam's lap, fell backwards, her face red. "What? They're my teammates. Of course I really like them."

"You dolt," Robin said, pinching her nose. She looked rather red too. Some people began to laugh, like Jaune, Nora, Blake, and Ruby. Others just sighed, like Pyrrha, Yang, Paige, and Robin. Others didn't look to happy about his answer, like Sun, Weiss, and Ren. Harmony was still out of it on the floor.

"Um, I'm going to go get some air." Sam didn't like all the focus being on him, and stepped outside onto the balcony, which overlooked the school grounds. "People are crazy. No wonder mom and dad kept me away from them."

"Sorry about that," a soft voice said from behind him. Sam didn't need to turn around to know who had spoken. His mom joined him at the railing, looking out over the campus. "We didn't want you to grow up ignorant of the world outside of hunting, but it was a decision we had to make, your father and me."

"I understand. You guys had to help protect the world. That's your job. I'm happy you did what you did. It made me strong," Sam said, trying to comfort his mom.

"I know, but I still feel like you got cheated out of your childhood. I grew up like you did, without any friends, always training to become stronger. You handled it much better than I did." Pyrrha took her circlet off and set it on the floor. "Protecting the world wasn't the only reason we stayed away from our friends, your father and I. You were born with your aura unlocked. We don't know why, but you were. You had so much of it, even then, but you couldn't control it. We learned this early, so we pulled you away from the world, away from Harmony. You two always did share a close bond."

"It's okay. I have friends now, and I'm back with Harmony." Sam thought about the girl who had been lying on the floor. Thinking about her, he remembered Yang's suggestion. "Hey mom, how did you and dad, you know, fall in love?" The question seemed to catch his mom off guard.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked, looking at her son curiously.

"Ms. Xiao Long, I mean, Yang, told me to ask you. She said it might answer some of the questions I've been having." His mom was silent for a little, probably thinking about how she was going to answer.

"Okay. I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. Your father was my first friend, ever really. He was the first person to see me for me, not just as an athlete. You should have seen him back then Sam. He was-"

"Incredible?" Sam anticipated. His mom always looked at his dad like he was the greatest person to ever walk the planet.

"No, not really. He didn't even know how to swing a sword properly. He snuck his way into Beacon to live up to his families expectations. The first time we met, I had to unlock his aura for him. Overall, he was the worst warrior I had ever seen." Sam had not expected this. "I fell in love with him much earlier than he did for me, for that very reason. He knew nothing of the world I came from. He didn't have any expectations of me. It was ironic, really. I could walk into the most Grimm infested parts of the forest without a moment's hesitation, but I was too afraid to tell your father how I really felt for him. He was always chasing after Weiss, calling her snow angel. It was hard for me to watch." 'This must have been what Robin was talking about when we first met,' Sam thought. "I was too nervous to talk about it with him, instead letting my emotions build up inside me. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, pretending like I didn't love him because I was afraid he would reject me."

"So what happened? Obviously you guys got married and had me," Sam asked.

"It was actually during one of Yang's games of Truth or Dare that I realized that your dad felt the same way I did. I had been tired and went to bed early one night. Ruby asked Jaune if he like anyone other than Weiss. I think she was trying to set him up with someone else so she could have Weiss." His mom chuckled a little bit at that. "He must have thought I couldn't hear him, but I did. I don't think I've ever moved faster in my life, using my semblance to pull him to me. And from that day on, well, you know how it goes." Pyrrha looked back out over the school. "Does that answer any of your questions?"

"Not really," Sam confessed. None of what his mom had told him helped him understand why the girls seemed to act strange every once in a while, or why their parents didn't like him. Pyrrha sighed once again.

"I think I know where Yang was going with that. I won't tell you the answer. This is something you need to figure out for yourself. But I can tell you this. In that room are three very special girls, who all care about you a great deal. Treasure them, because they bonds you make here will last a lifetime." Pyrrha put her circlet back on, and hugged him. He could have sworn he heard her whisper, "Choose Harmony," but it was probably just his imagination. "Ready to go back inside?"

"Yeah. Thanks mom."


	19. Chapter 19

Ch. 19

The next day, the parents left for home, leaving the kids once behind. Just before the adults got on the airship, Sun, Ren, and Weiss all approached Sam, their partners behind them, arms crossed.

"Sorry," they all grumbled together.

"What for?" Sam asked. Weiss stepped forward, awkwardly.

"We were hard on you, for reasons. It was unfair of us to act that way, especially after you saved the school from that Grimm," she said, fiddling with her sword hilt. Ren and Sun agreed. Sam accepted the apology, though he didn't think they needed to apologize for anything. With one last round of hugs and goodbyes, Beacon was once again populated by teenagers.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Sam asked. The girls all looked at each other, then at Sam.

"Sleep." Parents weekend had taken a lot out of everyone, and sleep came easy to Sam. His nightmares didn't even bother him. Instead, he that he was walking through a field of orange and green flowers, with a black raven on his shoulder. A light snow was falling, dusting his clothes and the flowers. It was a very peaceful dream, and the calm Sam felt was a very rare feeling for him. A beeping sound stirred him from his rest, though. Looking at his scroll through blurry eyes, he saw it was a message from Ozpin.

'Sam, you never responded to my message yesterday. I understand you need rest, but it's urgent. Come to my office as soon as you can. –O' Sam remembered the beep from his scroll yesterday and how he never looked at the message. The girls were still asleep, so Sam quietly got dressed and headed for the headmasters office.

Sam and Ozpin weren't the only ones in the office this time. Glynda Goodwitch and Yang had joined him. The older woman looked grumpier than usual. Yang was nervously pacing back and forth, something Sam had never seen her do. Ozpin was sitting at his desk, reading something on his scroll.

"Aw, Mr. Arc. Glad you could join us," Ozpin said, when Sam arrived.

"Sorry I didn't see your message yesterday. What's so urgent?" Glynda tapped her scroll a few times, and a large monitor dropped down from one wall, display a series of news articles.

"It's about the airship accident yesterday. The dust from Zander Corp. was never recovered. All traces of the shipping containers are gone. In a normal crash, we would have been able to find wreckage at least, but there was none. The crates were stolen, and the ship sabotaged to hide the evidence." The news articles on the screen displayed headlines about similar accidents, where dust shipments were involved in accidents. "Ever since the White Fang began stealing large quantities of dust all those years ago, any shipments that are stolen are investigated right away in order to stop large problems before they occur. We suspect that there is a new player involved, stealing dust but making it appear to be an accident so as not to arouse suspicion. What happened yesterday was not an isolated event. We have been tracking similar thefts all over the world." Sam didn't like where this was going.

"Makes sense, but why are you telling me? I'm not sure how much of use I'll be here," Sam said.

"After what you went through yesterday, I thought you deserved to know. We don't expect you to do anything. In fact, I ask that you let us handle this, especially in light of recent events." It wasn't hard to guess what events, or event, Ozpin was referring to. "Feel free to pass on this information to your team, but other than that, I'd like to keep this matter between us. Have a good day Mr. Arc," and with that, Sam shook the professors' hands and left, Yang right behind him.

"So what are you going to do about Zander corp?" Yang asked Sam.

"You heard Ozpin. He said that he and Professor Goodwitch would look into it," Sam replied, pulling his hood over his face.

"That's not an answer," Yang remarked, a smirk playing at her lips. Sam stopped and stared out over the campus through one of the many windows in the hallway. Sighing, he leaned on the window sill.

"Someone out there is planning something big. That much is obvious. I hunt monsters, creatures of Grimm, not people. Normally I would be okay leaving this to the authorities, but my team was almost killed by whoever did this. I'm going to find the people who stole that dust, and stop whatever it is they're doing." Yang joined Sam at the window.

"Nice speech, but do you know how you're going to find those people? Have you had any experience infiltrating a secret organization with shady dealings?" she asked. Sam shook his head no. "That's okay, because I do!" Yang shouted, fist bumping the air. "I'll start planning. Meet me tomorrow after classes with your team and we can go over the game plan."

"Do you ever work?" Sam asked.

"Eh," Yang responded, walking away. Sam was reluctant to bring his team into this, but he would need their help. Plus, Robin would probably kill him if he didn't.

Sam returned to his room, and opened the door as carefully as he could, trying not to wake his sleeping teammates. He only had to worry about two of them, however, because Harmony was awake and sitting on his bed. When she heard him enter, she looked up.

"U-um, Sam?" she asked, clentching her fists.

"Yeah?" he asked. Sam had never seen her this nervous before, even when facing down a horde of ursa majors.

"W-would you like to…" she took a deep breath. "Wouldyouliketogoseeamoviewithme?!" Sam had no idea why she was talking so fast, but he just assumed it was something people did. It was still early in the morning, so they had all afternoon to spend in town.

"Sure, Harmony. I'll wake the others," he started to reach for Paige, but Harmony grabbed his arm with her painfully tight grip.

"No! Uh, I mean, I'm sure they'll want to sleep," she said, releasing his hand, for which he was grateful. "Let's go before they wake up. C'mon." She trudged out of the room, wringing her hands together. Sam followed, once again careful with the door. He had never spent much time alone with Harmony outside of the library or their few classes they had without the other girls. Sam figured that the fact that their parents were once so close made the girl want to be better friends, which was a pleasant surprise with Sam. For a while, he had believed that the girl didn't like him. Every time he spoke to her, she looked away. It was good to know that this wasn't the case.


	20. Chapter 20

Ch. 20

Sam was not excited about the airship ride into town. On top of the motion sickness he was worried about the accident yesterday. The only comfort was that there was no Dust on the ship, making it an unlikely target for an attack. None the less, Sam was relieved when they touched down safely and unharmed. Harmony dragged him rather forcefully to the theater, where they bought their tickets. Sam had never been to the movies before. There wasn't a lot of need for theaters out in the wild lands, so he had no idea what to expect. He was pleasantly surprised to find that popcorn was delicious and the seats were comfortable.

Sam thought the movie, a romance, was okay, though he couldn't understand how the main character couldn't see the other characters feelings for them. It was so obvious and frustrating! The theater was almost empty, only a handful of couples and the young huntsmen-in-training. The whole time, Harmony kept leaning into him, like she was trying to get him to do something. Figuring that the girl was cold, Sam took her hint and wrapped his cloak around her and pulled her closer to warm her up. She seemed much happier throughout the rest of the movie, and Sam clapped himself on the back for successfully navigating some sort of social interaction.

After the movie, Sam and Harmony went to a local restraint for lunch. The whole way to the restraint, Harmony stood close to Sam, her hand brushing his often. When they sat down with their food, he couldn't hold it back any longer.

"Hey Harmony, what's changed?" Sam asked. Before today, the girl had been quiet and withdrawn. Now she was acting much friendlier to him, being closer to him. The girl looked away, her face red.

"Before she left, my mom told me that I should be more forceful and to put myself out there, if I was going to win."

"Win? Win what?" Realizing that she said something she shouldn't have, Harmony clapped her hand over her mouth and refused to elaborate. The rest of lunch was silent, but the girl kept tugging at her robes. Sam had no doubt that as soon as they got home she would strip down and lay in bed, and he would have to find something to distract himself. When they left the restaurant, heading for the airship home, two men came out of nowhere and pushed the pair of teenagers into an alley. They pulled out knives, and waved them in the kids' direction.

"Give us all the cash you got, and you'll walk out of here in one piece," one of the men said in a stereotypical gruff voice. His face was badly scared, and he was a whole head taller Sam. His partner looked very similar. Sam moved in front of Harmony out of instinct, his hood falling from his face.

"Listen, we don't want any trouble. Just let us go, and I won't hurt you," Sam said, not thinking that these men obviously didn't notice his swords or his strange clothing, signs that he was a huntsman. The thugs laughed.

"Oh, are you trying to protect your girlfriend over there? She's so tiny, I bet she couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to!" the second man laughed. Normally, Sam would have ignored the insult and move to get around the guy, but Harmony had a different idea. She stepped out from behind Sam and went to work on the men. Sam was terrified of what he saw. The screams of pain were beyond horrifying, and the sounds of their bodies breaking as Harmony threw them around like stuffed animals was almost too much for him. The girl didn't even bother with her whip. When she was satisfied that they wouldn't bother anyone ever again, the short girl wiped her hands on one of their shirts that wasn't covered in blood and dirt, before walking back towards the airship. Gingerly picking his was between the unconscious men, Sam let the image burn into his mind as a reminder not to piss the girl off.

"You don't think that was a bit overkill?" he asked, when he finally caught up to Harmony.

"No." A simple response.

"Sure. Well, let's get back home girlfriend," Sam said. Harmony stopped walking. Her face was very red now. Looking back Sam asked what was wrong.

"You just called me your girlfriend." Sam was confused.

"Well yeah. You're a girl." Sam had seen her in little enough clothing to confirm this. "And you're my friend, right?" He thought today proved that. "That thug you, um, scared, called you my girlfriend too." Harmony's face became even redder, if that was possible.

"Let's just go," she said. The rest of the trip was silent. Sam kept wondering if he said something wrong, and Harmony just kept walking, refusing to look at Sam. When they made it back to their room, she was already loosening her robes. Opening the door, they saw Paige and Robin moving about the room. Sam was about to go for his bed, but Harmony pulled him close. Standing up on her toes, she kissed his cheek. "Thanks for t-today." With that, she shrugged off her robe and jumped into bed under the covers, completely separating herself from the rest of the world. Paige and Robin were both staring at Sam with gaping mouths.

"Um, what's a girlfriend?" Sam said, coming over his shock of the kiss. The other girls' mouths dropped open even more, then they both looked very angry. "Guys? Did I do something wrong?" Sam did not sleep easy that night.


	21. Chapter 21

Ch. 21

The next morning, Sam was sitting at lunch with four other teenagers that weren't part of his team. Lately, he had been forcing himself to talk to other people besides his friends, in an attempt to be social. Luckily his team had become friends with team WILW, or team Willow. The leader was a girl named Willow. She fought using gloves that froze anything they touched. Her and Robin got along especially well, bonding over their icy natures. Her teammates were named Iggy, Leith, and Will. Iggy, her partner, was quiet like Harmony, but even more so. Sam didn't thing he had ever heard him speak, preferring to let his twin axes speak for him. Leith was what Sam assumed others would call a nerd. He was a straight A student who never missed an assignment or failed a test. He had a large sniper rifle that he was deadly accurate with, but in an up close fight, Leith lost pretty much every time. Will was Willow's twin brother, and had a completely opposite attitude. Like Robin, Willow was often harsh and serious. Will didn't seem to have a care in the world. Even his weapon was comical. It was a giant hammer that squeaked when it hit something, like a child's toy. Sam wasn't really sure how much use Will would be in a stealth mission, but he was fun to be around. Will was currently explaining to Sam what a girlfriend was, as none of the girls last night had been able tell him. Paige and Robin had tried to bring Harmony out of her shelter of blankets all night, instead of helping him.

"So you called Harmony your girlfriend, and she blushed, kissed you on the cheek, and hid under her sheets?" Will asked.

"Um, yeah, pretty much. Is that normal?"

"No, not really buddy," Will said, taking another bite of his waffle.

"Sam, from what I can analyze about your team, the girls all seem to have similar reactions when interacting with you. Increased heart rate, flushing of the face, shortness of breath, and a need for your attention," Leith said, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

"Kinda like Willow when talking to you four eyes," Will joked. Willow fumed in her seat. Even Sam could see that the girl had a massive crush on Leith, even though she refused to admit it. Leith didn't react, just went back to studying Sam.

"So Sam, do you know why the girls act this way? Do you know why Harmony did what she did?" Sam shook his head no.

"Let him figure it out for himself," Willow said. "Or, better yet, let the girls tell him themselves when they're ready." WILW kept bickering among themselves, except for Iggy of course. The rest of team SPHR showed up later, carrying trays of food. Paige and Robin glared at Harmony throughout the meal. At some point during a break in the argument, Will managed to explain the Paige and Robin that Sam didn't actually know what a girlfriend was, and that he thought it was a friend who was a girl. When they heard this, the two girls stopped staring daggers at Harmony, and instead started chastising Sam for being such an idiot.

When the bell rang, signaling the next round of classes, Sam was grateful for an excuse to leave the table. Constantly being surrounded by seven people made him uncomfortable, not to mention it felt like everyone was always listening to him, trying to see what he would do. Unfortunately, the next class was combat training, which meant all first year students would be there, which meant more staring.

Before Sam could step through the doors of the gym, however, a balled up piece of paper hit him in the side of the hood. Looking for the source of the projectile, Sam spotted a flash of gold disappear behind the wall, which meant only one thing. Motioning for his team to follow, Sam and the girls followed the gold streak, only to find Yang leaning against the wall.

"What are you doing here?" Robin scolded the woman. "You have a class to teach!"

"Relax ice princess. VB Jr. and I have something we've been working on. I couldn't wait until after classes, so I'm here now. Judging by the blank looks on your faces, I'm assuming lover boy over there didn't tell you yet." A round of nods confirmed the teachers guess. "Okay, well, he'll have to explain to you on the road, because something has come up. Sam, take your team to these coordinates right now, and snoop around a bit." Yang pulled a piece of paper out from her shirt, which made Sam very uncomfortable. Gingerly taking it from Yang, he stuffed it into his pocket.

"Right now? We still have classes!" Robin complained.

"I'm game to ditch. Right Harmony!" Paige said, holding her hand up for the shorter girl to high five. She didn't get one.

"Already took care of that for you. As far as the records show, I have the four of you down here for emergency training that will take all day." Yang clapped her hands together and smiled. "Now get out of here and head towards the coordinates. Bye." Then Yang dashed back around the corner and into the gym, leaving the four teenagers alone and very confused. Above them, something metal groaned loudly before snapping, and team WILW fell out of a vent and to the ground.

"Guys?!" Sam said, startled by appearance of the other team.

"We saw you four disappear, and wanted to know what's up," Will said, rubbing the back of his head. "So, where are we headed?"

"I've already hacked into the schools mainframe and cleared our schedules," Leith said in a monotone voice. "Attendance will not be an issue." The seven other teenagers all stared at Sam, waiting for him to speak. Since when was he elected leader? Sighing defeat, Sam pulled out the coordinates from his pocket and plugged them into his scroll. The location that showed up on the screen was an abandoned warehouse in town near the docks.

"I'll explain the deal on the way. Right now, we have to stow away on an airship and get to the docks," he said.

"I'm a great stowaway!" Paige said. Robin groaned.

"Fine. Let's just go."


	22. Chapter 22

Ch. 22

Turns out they didn't actually have to stow away. As they were heading towards the platform for airships, they saw a man standing next to one holding a piece of paper that said 'SPHR.' It was the same man who had ejected from the sabotaged airship. Sam motioned for his friends to wait. First he had to make sure this wasn't a trap. Pulling his hood farther over his face, he ran full sprint around the airship and behind the man holding the paper. He drew a sword and held it to the man's back. The paper fluttered to the ground as the man slowly raised his hands.

"Who sent you?" Sam growled. It had been very long since Sam had had to be intimidating. Back in the wild lands, it had been an everyday occurrence.

"Yang! Yang did I swear," the man sputtered. "I owed her a favor. Check my pocket, there's a signed note." Not removing the sword from the man's back, Sam checked his pocket, and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. The handwriting was atrocious, but Sam thought it said something along the lines of 'Team SPHR needs to get to town. Do it,' along with a smiley face that a six year old might have drawn. "See! Now please, can you put the sword down?" Feeling that he could trust the man, Sam sheathed his sword and waved towards where his friends were. The seven teens all appeared from behind storage crates and jogged over towards him.

"Yang sent him. He's going to take us to town." The others looked skeptical, until he showed them the note.

"That's Yang's handwriting alright," Robin grumbled.

"How soon can we leave?" Sam asked. The answer was immediately. The pilot lowered the ramp inside the airship for them. Sam could have sworn he heard the man mumbling to himself about scary ass kids, but he didn't say anything about it. Maybe scary was what they needed to be if they were going to take down whoever it was who was that was stealing dust.

Sam sat as close as he could to the trash can, trying not to lose it. Doubled over in his seat, could feel Paige rubbing his back. Robin sat on his other side, holding his cloak away from his face. Harmony sat next to her, humming something that seemed to calm him. Team Willow all sat across from them. Will had an amused look on his face, and Sam could have sworn he heard his scroll beep like it had taken a picture. Willow was leaning over Leith's shoulder, trying to see what the boy was doing on his scroll, as he was tapping away at it. Iggy, like always, was sitting silently staring out the window.

When the airship touched down, Sam almost ran off, much to his teams' amusement. SPHR and JNPR all gathered around in a circle. Sam was waiting for someone to speak, until he realized that they were all looking at him.

"Is there something on my face? Why are you all staring at me?" he asked.

"Well, I'm sure there are a couple of reasons your team is staring at you," Will joked. Willow slapped him. The other girls also gave him a dirty look.

"We're waiting for you to tell us what to do. You're our leader," Paige said.

"Um, okay." Sam had no idea what he was doing. He had always just followed his parents. "Yang gave us those coordinates. We should try to get a map of the place, somehow."

"Already done." Leith held up his scroll. On it was a 3-D model of a warehouse, complete with a real time thermal scan. "I hacked Beacon's satellite and positioned it to focus on the warehouse. I can't keep it in that position for long though. I'd say we have 2 hours max."

"Good job Leith!" Willow exclaimed. Now that he could see where they were going, Sam had a plan. They would break up into pairs and approach the warehouse from all different angles. Leith sent them all a link to the satellite feed, which they could use to monitor each other's positions as well as anybody who showed up. Already people were trickling into the building, which was supposed to be abandoned. One side of the warehouse was up against the water, so that left five other ways to approach. Harmony and Paige will fly to the ceiling. Willow and Leith will go through the back. Will and Iggy will go from below, utilizing the sewer system, while Robin and Sam go in through the side.

"Remember, this is just recon. If anything happens, take pictures and videos, but do not engage. Retreat rather than fight. We don't know what we're up against, and we don't want to spook them. Ready?" Sam's friends nodded. "Okay, let's go."


	23. Chapter 23

Ch. 23

Sam and Robin, after breaking off from the group, carefully made their way through the docks, hiding behind storage crates and vehicles. Sam would have suggested to Robin that she take off her bright red cloak, but he already knew there was no way. At least she pulled her hood up, to hide her black and white hair. From a distance, they could only see one entrance into the building from their direction, a single door. Two guards where standing watch out front, but Robin quickly dispatched them. Sam, checking his scroll map to make sure there were no other warm bodies on the other side, kicked the door in and took out the last two guards without even having to draw a weapon.

Seeing that most of the other people were all congregating in the same area, Sam and Robin stealthily weaved through hallways and staircases, taking any resistance out swiftly and silently. On his map, Sam saw other pairs of dots taking out other ones, which meant that his friends were fine for the moment too. Finally, after climbing one last ladder, Sam and Robin found themselves on a catwalk, overlooking what must have been the main warehouse. Half a dozen well people were sitting in chairs around a circular table, though the seventh chair was vacant. Two dozen other people were in the room as well, though they carried weapons. 'Great, more guards,' Sam thought. Robin and Sam strained to hear what was being said down below, but they were too far away.

Luckily, Robin had come prepared. From somewhere in her cloak, she pulled out a small device and plugged it into her scroll, tapped the screen a few times, and ran a program. Words appeared on the screen, and it looked like a conversation.

"Silent listening device. Useful for stealth missions," Robin whispered. He would definitely have to get one of those. The words on the screen kept moving, so Sam focused on that.

"Where is he?" one person said.

"Damn him for keeping us waiting."

"He probably turned us in for the reward that greedy son of a-" A lough clanging in the warehouse cut off all conversations. Another dozen men strolled into the room, with one man at the head. He wore a bright red suit that matched his short hair and thick beard. He walked with a golden cane with a large diamond on top. When Robin saw him, she hissed.

"That's Martin Zander, head of Zander Corp. Rumor is he killed his brother and sister to inherit the company. If Schnee Dust was shady before my mom took over, Zander Corp was complete darkness," she said. Sam didn't like the way he walked so casually among these other scummy looking characters. He had a sense of entitlement to him, and Sam's right fingers twitched, wanting to send to crack that giant diamond on his cane. The scroll started moving again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for saving me a seat," Martin Zander said, strolling towards the empty chair. "Sorry I'm late. One of my servants hit the front bumper of my limo, so I had to take another." Sam highly doubted that the 'servant' was at fault. "Well, let's get down to business."

"We have paid you for the dust, but the shipments we've been stealing are short on quantity. You are not supplying us everything we bought," one of the people at the table said. Zander ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, the dust industry has been watched very carefully recently. Moving large shipments of dust anywhere is bound to raise suspicion, even if it is to a reputable buyer. Rumor has it that someone has caught onto our little scheme. You're men are not the quality thieves you promised them to be, and until I feel that it's safe, there will be no more dust shipments," Zander said calmly. The others at the table looked at each other nervously.

"We'll pay double to get the rest of it in one go," they said.

"Deal." 'So much for not raising suspicion.' "There's one person buying that much dust from my company at the moment, so that's who you'll have to target. That ice cold bitch over at Schnee." Robins hand tightened around her rapier, but luckily she didn't move. "That might actually be a benefit though. Snow bitch inspects the dust herself. She said she's trying to get my product off the streets. Something about it being 'unstable' and 'unsafe.' Luckily you fella's don't really care about that, do you? Not for what you're planning. If you can take her out during the exchange, you can have the rest free of charge." Robin's silver eyes burned like fire. There were murmurs around the table.

"We can do that. But what about her wife? Isn't she the Red Reaper?" someone asked. "What's to stop her taking out all of us?" Zander laughed so loud, even Sam and Robin could hear it.

"Who cares? When the bomb goes off, even that hooded slut won't be able to stop you." Sam was now pinning Robin to the catwalk, trying to hold her back, though he was tempted to let her go. One of the men who had walked in with Zander stepped towards the table, and bent towards Zander's ear, whispering so quietly even the listener couldn't pick it up. The red dressed man clapped his hands. "Well, it looks like we have a bit of a treat today. Whoever has been sticking his nose where it shouldn't be must have sent in the scouts. Fortunately for us, they weren't as stealthy as they thought they were."

Sam's eyes grew wide at what he saw below. His friends where being marched out into the warehouse, hands in the air, surrounded by heavily armed guards. Robin stopped her thrashing and grabbed Sam's arm.

"Hello kiddies. What brings you here?" Zander asked. He stood up and inspected the teenagers. When he got a little too handsy patting down Willow, she tried to bite him. Zander slapped her, sending the girl reeling. Will and the rest of his team tried to help her, but Sam saw something fall from Will's pocket. It was his scroll. Zander picked it up, and looked at it. "Well well well, looks like they came prepared. And what's this? Two lone dots hiding in the rafters? Come on out kids! Or your friends get it." Sam and Robin, seeing as they had no other options, dropped to the floor, hands in the air. "Why hello there. Why don't you take off those adorable hoods and let me see your faces." They did as they were told. "Now that we have that out of the way…" Zander trailed off, staring at Robin. His eyes lit up, and he covered his mouth with his hand. "No way. No fucking way. We just caught a Schnee!" The guards surrounding Sam and Robin doubled. When they tried to separate them, Sam lashed out, knocking five guards unconscious before the rest tackled him to the ground. Robin was pulled towards Zander.

"Sam!" she shouted, seeing him on the ground.

"Aw, crying for your boyfriend?" Zander mocked, cupping Robins chin. "He just took out my men. I think I'll let them have a little fun with him later, but you're first. If something were to happen to you, your mother would be too devastated to do anything. Taking over the company would be easy!" Zander picked up his cane and rammed the diamond into Robins stomach, doubling her over. Sam and the others tried to fight their way towards her, Robin raised her hand.

"No, stop." She was talking to her friends. "Zander you bastard. Let them go. Do whatever you want. My moms will kill you anyways." The teenagers all started shouting, but Zander laughed. Sam kept thrashing around, and more guards where needed to hold him down. The Dust company owner raised his can again, and smacked Robin on the side of the head. She went down.

Sam screamed. He felt his body growing hotter, dangerously so. The guards holding him down stepped back, swatting at their clothes that were smoking. The few brave ones that still tried to hold him down were knocked back by a shockwave of power, Sam being the epicenter. The entire warehouse groaned. The ground began shaking. Sam stood up, letting his aura grow and expand, fulling his body with power. The ground shook again, and even Zander wobbled, trying to keep his footing.

"Guys, get out of her," he growled. "Take Robin." His friends all stared at him, not moving. Their expressions were mixed, but they did share one common one, along with everybody else in the room. Fear. When they didn't move, Sam barked out the order again. "GO!" This time they moved. It was getting harder to hold back his power, but he needed to wait just a little longer to make sure his friends would be safe. Paige scooped Robin up and made a mad dash for the exit.

Zander grabbed one of the men in suit, and slammed his cane to the ground, disappearing. Seeing his enemy gone, Sam felt his anger swell. By then, he was seeing people souls, but Zanders was nowhere to be found. That's when he let himself go. God was back, and with a vengeance.


	24. Chapter 24

Ch. 24

Sam kept slipping in and out of consciousness after the slaughter. He wasn't going to try to tell himself that it was anything but that. But he didn't have a problem with it. The guards tried to fight back. It was useless of course. Sam broke them, but not all of them. A handful had run away and he had let them go. Those that he destroyed, he had seen the blackness of their souls. Those men wanted blood. Sam had no problem eliminating them. He had barely made it out over open water before he released the power building up inside of him. The warehouse was destroyed, the steel holding it together was a melted puddle of molten metal, and most of the docks were destroyed too.

The first time Sam came to, he was floating in the middle of the ocean, the waves rocking him back and forth. A loud buzzing sound kept getting closer and closer, the wind getting stronger and stronger. He blacked out again as the airship started descending on top of him, Beacons crest barely visible. The second time he woke up, it was inside a moving vehicle. He knew because his stomach was doing summersaults. People surrounded him, yanking off his clothes and weapons. Someone was cradling his head, rocking back and forth. He saw a fuzzy red and white blur leaning over him, then it was black. The third and final time he opened his eyes, Sam was once again in the infirmary. His first thought was that he should move all his things out of his teams room and in here, seeing as he slept in this bed as often as his own.

He was naked except for his pants, his body exposed to the world. He didn't like the feeling. Sam moved his arms first, testing out his body. They were slow to respond, but the limbs moved, and there was no pain. The rest of his body was the same. 'So they gave me a numbing medicine,' Sam decided. The doors creaked open, but instead of a team of doctors or his parents and friends, just one person walked in. It was Robin. She didn't look hurt physically, just a bandage on her cheek. It was the hurt in her eyes that twisted Sam's gut more than any airship. The girl looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"You're awake," she said, stopping a few feet away from his bed. He nodded, waiting to see how she would react. Her voice was icy and distant. "Do you know how long you were asleep for?" He shook his head. "Three days." Sam didn't say anything, just waited for her. "Three days, Sam!" Now she was angry. Tears flowed from her face. She ran at him, fists flying. Her punches were weak and glancing, but they still hurt Sam emotionally. She slowed down, just enough for him to catch her arms. Unsure of what else to do, he pulled her close to him. She buried her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Robin-"

"No," she said, still weeping. "You don't get to talk. After everything that happened, I'm the one speaking." Sam wrapped his arms tighter around her, resting his chin on her head, her black and white hair tickling his neck. "You're a monster Sam Arc. And you want to know the worst part? It's not because of what you are, what you can do. It's because you didn't tell me. You didn't tell our team. I thought- I thought I could trust you. I thought we shared everything, but when I was watching the medics trying to revive you on that airship, that it was a scam. I don't know you. I know your parents. I know how you fight. I know what you eat for lunch. But I don't know you. Nobody does. Not once have you ever told me about your life before Beacon. I know how you wake up at night, sweating and panting. I see how you tense up every time someone touches you. What happened to you growing up?" She was still crying, pulling him closer and closer. "How could I have been so stupid? I didn't even know your Semblance! How ridiculous is that?! My mom was right. I should never have gotten close to you. To think I lo-" Sam could literally feel his heart break.

"I'm sorry," he said, when she stopped talking. "My semblance… it's horrible. I can barely control it. Every minute, every second, it's like an itch, trying to get out. My aura wants to grow, make me that thing you saw. That's why I couldn't tell you, because if you got too close, if anybody got to close, I'd kill you." Robin's tears slowed, but did not stop. "Growing up, I was always fighting for survival. I saw people die every day. There were people I couldn't save, and it haunts me every night. Those are the nightmares I have. The people I could have saved with my semblance, but was too afraid to in fear I'd lose control. I see them, calling out for help. When I first came to Beacon, that's why I couldn't connect with people, because I never had. I didn't want to lose them again. I began to feel like I wouldn't too, so I opened up. Then that Grimm attacked the school, and I was afraid to lose everyone again, so I became the monster."

"There was no dust bomb, was there?" Robin asked, clutching at his arms. He snorted.

"No. Your mom found out, and threatened me. She knew I was dangerous, and told me that she would kill me if I hurt you. I was scared, but not for me. She was right. I was scared because I COULD hurt you. Then again at the docks, Zander started hitting you. I couldn't let that happen. I wasn't going to let anybody hurt you, even if it meant losing myself." They were silent, just holding each other.

"Sam?" Robin asked finally.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about your time before Beacon. What was it like?" He sighed.

"You don't want me to. Some of the things I've done... you'd hate me even more," he said. Robin shook her head, tickling him more.

"No. I need to know. And I don't hate you. I was just upset. I still lo… you're still my partner and friend. You've been trying to be strong for so long, sacrificing happiness and love to keep others safe, but that's not strength. Strength is opening yourself up to others, so they can keep you safe too. If you really want to defend me, I have to know," Robin said. Sam still wasn't sure how she would look at him after, but he told her his story, all of it. The first time his semblance went off, the monsters he fought, the people he watched die, even the conversation with his parents when they sent him to Beacon. The whole time Robin kept her face hidden, buried in his chest, so he couldn't see her reaction, though he did feel her tense up every once in a while. When he was done, he pulled away. Robin looked up, staring into his green eyes. He couldn't tell what she thought of him, but it probably wasn't good.

"I'll talk to Ozpin. I'll tell him I'm leaving. I'm going to find Zander and kill him, but then I'm gone, somewhere where I can't hurt anybody. Where I can't hurt you." Robin slapped him.

"You idiot! What did I just say?! The only way you could possibly hurt me is if you leave! I love you, you big, dumb idiot! How do you think I'll feel if you leave?" Her voice trailed off, as if she was just beginning to understand the words that had left her mouth.

"You- uh- love…" Sam couldn't finish his sentence. Robin's face turned bright red, then she became calm again.

"You heard me. And If you leave, that means that I'm going to have to leave with you, Sam Arc. How would that make you feel, if you forced me to drop out of school?"

"Bad, I guess…" Sam admitted.

"Then you're staying. Now no more of this leaving nonsense. And for the love of god put on a shirt!" Sam looked down and realized that he was still half naked, and Robin was having a hard time keeping eye contact with him.

"Okay. I'll stay."

"Good. Now get up. Ozpin is waiting for us in his office. Everyone else is there too." Sam hesitated. "I'm here for you and so are the rest of your friends. SPHR and WILW kinda had a meeting while you were unconscious, and nobody hates you. All they care about is that you're okay, but you still have to tell them what you told me, otherwise you'll tear yourself apart with guilt again." Sam, realizing she was right, stood up. He found a spare shirt next to his bed and shoes. Putting them on, he headed towards the door with Robin. He was about to pull the handle, but the girl grabbed his wrist. She pulled him towards her, grabbed his neck, and kissed him. It wasn't like the kiss Harmony had given him, or even one between friends who hadn't seen each other in a while. This was the type of kiss his mom gave his dad, full of passion and emotion, like they were trying to tell each other everything about themselves without a word. Reluctantly, they broke off the kiss, and turned away from each other.

"Um, Ozpins office, right?" he asked, awkwardly?

"Yeah. Ozpin." Robin opened the door, and walked through, but not before grabbing his hand, refusing to let go. "Guess I win," she whispered under her breath, thinking Sam couldn't hear.


	25. Chapter 25

Ch. 25

They walked to Ozpins office, holding hands the entire way. Neither said a word, not sure of what to say. Sam had no idea what had just happened, but whatever it was he liked it. They arrived at the professors office and pushed open the door, still with their fingers clasp. The rest of SPHR and WILW, along with Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch, and Yang. It appeared as the older female teacher was reprimanding the younger one, who stared down at her shoes. Everyone stopped talking and watched as the pair of hunters stepped into the room, the door closing behind them. Goodwitch turned her attention from Yang, who seemed a bit relieved, and focused on Sam.

"Now that you're awake Mr. Arc, would you like to explain to everyone here what you were thinking when you led your friends into that warehouse?" she demanded, her riding crop thumping against her leg.

"Professor, it wasn't Sam's fault," Paige said.

"It was all of us!" Robin added.

"We went with SPHR because we wanted to," Will said. The rest of WILW nodded in agreement. Even Iggy whispered a yes.

"All of you be silent. I will get to you in a minute, but it was Mr. Arc who led the team, and it is Mr. Arc who will answer my question," the white haired woman said sternly. The only person in the room who seemed calm was Ozpin.

"You're right Professor. It was all my fault. I tricked my team and Willow's into going to the warehouse with me. What happened is my responsibility, and I am solely to blame," Sam said.

"Bullshit!" Will cried, but he quieted down once Goodwitch raised her riding crop.

"Enough Will!" Sam said. "I got you caught, and I killed those men."

"And how did you kill those men, Sam?" Glynda asked. "Even you couldn't have taken out that many alone. All footage of the docks was wiped from any and all servers." She glanced at Ozpin, who remained emotionless. "Almost every eyewitness is either dead or in too much shock to speak. The only ones left are your friends here, and they refused to give a statement until you woke up. So, what happened Sam?"

"Leith, was your scroll recording?" Sam asked. The techie always seemed to have cameras around him, so if anybody had footage it was him.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Sam?" Leith asked. Sam nodded. "Though I advise against it, I was recording. No one, not even me, has watched it yet." He pulled out his scroll, and touched the screen. "Professor Ozpin, I just sent you a secure file. It's the video." Ozpin raised his eyebrows, then touched his desk. The lights dimmed, and the windows displayed a video screen. Another tap, and a video started playing. It must have been shot from Leiths position, because it showed three men sneaking up on whoever had the camera and disarming them, along with a partner. They were marched into the warehouse, along with the others minus Sam and Robin. You could see Zander and the other people in suits, along with the countless guards and thugs. There was no audio, so you couldn't hear Zander calling out for Sam and Robin, but soon they were on camera, surrounded by guards. Zander pulled Robin from Sam, then started hitting her.

Yang gasped, and ran over to her niece, hugging her and checking her face. Even Glynda seemed to tear up watching the huntress in training being beaten. That's when the video started becoming fuzzy. The camera panned over towards a pile of guards, Sam at the bottom. White light began to emanate from the bottom, smoke rising. The guards scurried off one by one, parts of their clothes on fire. The warehouse began crumbling, rubble falling from the ceiling. Sam stood up, his entire body glowing brighter and brighter. He could see his lips moving, and the camera moved to, heading towards the exit. That was when Zander and one of the men he was meeting with disappeared, and Sam started glowing brighter, his cloak billowing behind him. Then his green eyes burned gold, there was a flash of light, and the video cut out completely, leaving a terrifying image of Sam shrouded in white aura, preparing to destroy everything.

"You looked a lot cooler in person," Will said, breaking the awkward silence. Willow gave her brother a dirty look. "The golden eyes are really badass." Professor Ozpin cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention.

"Will, please shut up," the professor said. "Am I wrong in assuming that the man dressed in that atrocious red suit was Martin Zander. The same man who's companies dust has been going missing over the last few months. Those other people he was with I recognize as well. They are all members of an anarchist terrorist group. And the one Zander took with him was their leader. I assume they were discussing whatever it is they were stealing dust for. Before you were captured, did anyone hear what it was they were planning?"

"Ozpin! That is not what we are here to discuss," Goodwitch proclaimed.

"Yes it is. There are bigger things at stake here than discipline. Sam, Robin, everyone, I need to know everything that happened." They spent the next two hours telling Ozpin and the other two teachers what had happened in that warehouse, even describing the plan to kill Weiss Schnee. When they had finished, Ozpin dismissed everyone but Sam and Robin. "You two have more reason to be afraid than anyone else. Robin, Zander is after your family. And Sam, they have seen what you can do. People like that, they are they type we talked about before, the ones who will want to capture you. Are you both willing to risk everything to take them down? Would you be willing to kill?" Ozpin had suddenly become very dark.

"Sir, why are you asking us?" Robin asked.

"Because we're the only ones who can stop them. And their death is the only way to do so," Sam answered for the professor. Ozpin nodded. "I'll do it. I'll do it alone. Leave my team out of it."

"I cannot. They are already involved, and despite what you may think, you cannot do it alone. SPHR will save our world, together, or not at all."


	26. Chapter 26

Ch. 26

Sam and Robin went back to their room, unsure of what to do next. They weren't surprised to find the rest of both teams waiting for them, along with Yang. Sam quickly grabbed his clothes and equipment, changed in the bathroom, and walked back out. He was about to put his hood over his face, but he glanced at Robin. He had told her everything, and figured that everyone else deserved the truth too, so he left his hood down. Sam was done hiding from the world. He sat on his bed in the center of the room, Robin sitting next to him.

"So, I'm guessing you guys have questions…" he said, trailing off. Yang chuckled uncomfortably. "I already told Robin basically my entire life story. It might explain a lot about me and answer most of the questions you guys have." Everyone looked on eagerly. "Okay then. I was born outside Mistral, in a small little village…" Sam went on to detail everything he had told Robin. Every once in a while someone asked a question, but other than that they just listened. Whenever he told them about one of the bad stories, he could hear sniffles. Sam told them about his nightmares, which Paige seemed particularly interested in.

"That's why you were awake that first night," she mumbled, wiping a tear from her eye. He described his semblance in more detail, and how he had beaten the Grimm over parent weekend.

"Looks like I'm not the only one here who's burning hot anymore," Yang commented. A round of dirty looks shut the teacher up. When the story was gone, Sam waited for someone to react. Robin gripped his hand, squeezing it in support. To everyone's shock, it was Iggy who moved first. The boy had been slouched in the far corner of the room, the farthest away from Sam he could get. Now he moved towards Sam, stepping around people and beds. At first, Sam thought the boy was heading for the door, trying to get away, but instead he stood in front of Marcus. Everyone else leaned in close, trying to hear what the normally silent kid would say.

"I don't know what our next move is," Iggy said. His voice was much deeper than Sam had imagined. "But whatever it is, where you lead, I'll follow." Sam was shocked, to say the least. Will stepped up next.

"I've got your back man," he said, putting a hand on Sam's shoulder. Paige and Harmony followed.

"We've been with you from the start," Paige said. Harmony nodded consent. Willow and Leith also stepped forward, adding their support. Even Yang joined the group, which now surrounded Sam. Robin stood up.

"You're not a monster Sam," the white tipped girl said. "You've been afraid for so long that you would hurt someone, but look around you. We would do anything to help you Sam, because you're out friend, no matter what. And if your semblance does go out of control, then we'll all still be together." Sam's eyes threatened tears, but he was okay with it. He stood up, and everyone swarmed him, creating one big group hug.

"Thanks you guys," Sam said. "This means so much. I've never had a group hug before, though I still think the kiss with Robin was a little bit better." It was like he had set off a bomb.

"WHAT?!" three girls all shrieked together. Robin quickly followed up with, "only a little bit?!" This only made Paige and Harmony scream louder. Sam, still weak from the incident at the docks, felt himself getting light headed, and fell back onto his bed. The last thing he saw before it all went black was three shapes, pink, black, and white, descending upon him like three angry harpies.


End file.
